LONDON, Ontario, July 23, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sernova Corp. (TSX-V:SVA) (OTCQB:SEOVF) (FSE:PSH) announces it has completed a non-brokered private placement of $2.754 million, pursuant to which Sernova issued a total of 11,016,000 special warrants in two closing (July 13, 2018, and July 20, 2018).

“This oversubscribed placement was supported by retail and institutional investors who see Sernova rapidly advancing its regenerative medicine technologies on the world stage,” said Dr. Philip Toleikis, President and CEO of Sernova Corp.

Net proceeds from the private placement will be used to support funding of Sernova's FDA cleared US Phase I/II regenerative medicine clinical trial, “Safety, Tolerability and Efficacy Study of Sernova’s Cell Pouch™ for Clinical Islet Transplantation” and to advance corporate/academic collaborations utilizing the Company’s platform technology to treat diabetes, hemophilia and other serious disease conditions, as well as for general corporate purposes.

“With advancement of our programs, including our diabetes Phase I/II clinical trial, Sernova’s clinical development group has integrated the CTI and University of Chicago teams to advance a substantial regulatory package that has made the initiation of our first US clinical trial possible as  we now advance patient enrollment and treatment with the resolute goal to improve the lives of people with diabetes,” said Toleikis.

Each Special Warrant will convert, for no additional consideration, into one Unit (Unit) on the earlier of the third business day after a receipt of a final prospectus qualifying the conversion is issued and the day after the expiry of the four-month statutory hold period. Each Unit will consist of one common share and one common share purchase warrant, with each warrant exercisable into one share at a price of $0.35 per share for a 24 month exercise period, subject to abridgement of the exercise period (after the expiry of the 4 month hold period) on 30 days notice to holders in the event that the twenty-day volume weighted price of the shares exceeds $0.50 per share.

The private placement has received approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws, the securities issued under the Private Placement are subject to a four-month hold period from the time of closing of the Private Placement. The hold periods for this Private Placement expire on November 14, 2018 and November 21, 2018.

The Company compensated finders by way of cash fees of $75,425 and 301,700 non-transferable finder warrants, each such finder warrant having the same terms as the Unit warrants.

About Sernova’s Cell Pouch™ Technologies

The Cell Pouch is a novel, proprietary, scalable, implantable macroencapsulation device for the long-term survival and function of therapeutic cells (donor, proprietary stem cell-derived cells and xenogeneic cells) which then release proteins and/or hormones as required to treat disease. The device, designed to eliminate concerns of fibrosis upon implantation incorporates with tissue, forming highly vascularized tissue chambers for the transplantation and function of therapeutic cells. The device with therapeutic cells has been shown to provide long-term safety and efficacy in small and large animal models of diabetes and has been proven to provide a biologically compatible environment for survival of insulin-producing cells in humans.

About Sernova Corp

Sernova Corp is developing regenerative medicine therapeutic technologies using a medical device and immune protected therapeutic cells to improve the treatment and quality of life of people with chronic metabolic diseases such as insulin-dependent diabetes, blood disorders including hemophilia, and other diseases treated through replacement of proteins or hormones missing or in short supply within the body. For more information, please visit www.sernova.com

For further information contact:

Philip Toleikis, Ph.D., President and CEO
Tel: (604) 961-2939
[email protected]
www.sernova.com

Ray Matthews & Associates
Tel: (604) 818-7778
[email protected]
www.raymatthews.ca

Forward-Looking Information

This release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “projects”, “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will”, “would”, “may”, “could” or “should” occur. Although Sernova believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Sernova’s management on the date such statements were made, which include our belief about the conduct and outcome of clinical trials and that Sernova will be able to raise additional capital to fund its clinical programs including its planned US FDA clinical trial. Sernova expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.