Drug developer Alchemia has raised $15 million through a share placement to institutional investors and is seeking to raise another $5 million via a share purchase plan.

Alchemia on Monday also said it was considering a demerger of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Alchemia Oncology Pty Ltd, to create a stand-alone company.

Alchemia said it had placed 62.5 million shares with institutional investors in Australia and the United States at 24 cents per share.

The institutional placement was oversubscribed. The offer price of 24 cents per share represents a 12.7 per cent discount to Alchemia’s closing share price on November 3, 2011.

Alchemia says it intends to use some of the funds from the placement and share purchase plan for a phase III trial of cancer drug HA-Irinotecan and finalisation of the HA-Irinotecan manufacturing process.

HA-Irinotecan would be one of the assets contained in Alchemia Oncology.

Alchemia said its proposal to demerge Alchemia Oncology was subject to further evaluation and market conditions.

Alchemia Ltd would continue to be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, with the drug fondaparinux being the primary asset of the company.

“We believe that these changes will provide a clear choice for investors as we recognise that the risk/return profile of each of these businesses is markedly different,” Alchemia chief executive Pete Smith said in a statement.

Fondaparinux is Alchemia’s lead drug. It is a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Arixtra, a synthetic anti-coagulant mainly used to prevent deep vein thrombosis.

Alchemia shares were three cents higher at 30.5 cents on Monday.