PrintAmyris has completed its much anticipated initial public offering, raising $84.8 million. Though the deal priced at $16 per share, below its expected $18 to $20 range, it posted a 5 percent gain in its first day of trading.
The Emeryville, California based company, which engineers yeast to convert plant sugars into renewable fuels, chemicals, and anti-malarial drugs, has built up an impressive pipeline of partnerships on the road to its IPO, including major deals with Brazilian biofuels company Cosan, and French oil company Total, which has a major equity stake in the company. Proctor & Gamble will use Amyris’ renewable chemicals in its products and Sanofi-Aventis will begin marketing an anti-malarial drug based on Amyris’ technology in 2012.
Investor interest in biotech companies outside the traditional drug development arena is growing with several next-generation biofuels companies and sequencing companies in the IPO queue. [See story http://www.burrillreport.com/article-why_biotech_investor_finds_next_gen_biofuels_attractive.html]
Pacific Biosciences has increased the amount it hopes to raise from its initial public offering to $230 million, up from the $200 million in its original S-1 filing. Drug developer Quark Pharmaceuticals has decided to go public in Israel, where it has R&D facilities, to raise $20 million. The California biotech develops drugs using RNA interference and recently struck a licensing deal with Novartis for a potential therapeutic designed to protect the kidney from damage during kidney transplant and major heart surgery.
Private equity firm Warburg Pincus has committed to invest up to $35 million in Canadian biotech Protox Therapeutics, a developer of receptor targeted fusion proteins for the treatment of diseases of the prostate and cancer. The agreement calls for an initial tranche of $10 million and an additional tranche of $25 million subject to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granting a Special Protocol Assessment for PRX302 for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia within the next year. That designation would guarantee that the proposed trial protocol design, clinical endpoints, and statistical analyses are acceptable to support regulatory approval.
New Jersey biotech Tobira Therapeutics completed a $31 million series B financing led by new investor Novo A/S with participation by original investors Domain Associates, Frazier Healthcare Ventures, Montreux Equity Partners, and Canaan Partners. Tobira is focused on developing and commercializing innovative antiviral compounds to treat HIV disease. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance its lead compound into a mid-stage clinical trial.
Maryland biotech OpGen, a commercial phase genomics company, raised $17 million in a series B equity financing that was led by jVen Capital with participation from the company’s other major investors, including CHL Medical Partners, Highland Capital Partners, Mason Wells Biomedical and Versant Ventures. The financing will support marketing efforts for the company’s Argus Optical Mapping System, which was launched in June 2010, for automated, microbial whole genome analysis.
German biotech Pieris signed a collaboration and license agreement with both Sanofi-Aventis and Sanofi Pasteur to develop anticalin therapeutics. Anticalins are a novel generation of targeted therapeutics that have the potential to overcome some of the constraints of monoclonal antibodies, thereby allowing novel therapeutic approaches.
Under the terms of their agreement, Pieris will apply its proprietary anticalin technology to discover novel anticalin drugs against multiple targets, with further development undertaken by Sanofi-Aventis and Sanofi-Pasteur. The collaboration will initially involve two targets nominated by Sanofi-Aventis and Sanofi-Pasteur, and includes the option for four additional targets. Peiris will get $4.8 million upfront for the first two targets, plus committed research funding and up to $61 million in payments for the achievement of research, preclinical, regulatory and commercial milestones.
DEALS FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 1, 2010
| Company | Location | Amount Raised (USD M)) | Principal Focus |
| Tobira Therapeutics | Manalapan, NJ | 31.0 | Antivirals |
| OpGen | Gaithersburg, MD | 17.0 | Genomics |
| Tigris Pharmaceuticals | Bonita Springs, FL | 6.5 | Cancer therapeutics |
| Watermark Medical | Boca Raton, FL | 6.0 | Medical devices |
| Opthonix | Vista, CA | 5.4 | Diagnostics |
| Rhythmia Medical | Burlington, MA | 5.0 | Medical devices |
| TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals | Malvern, PA | 5.0 | Cancer therapeutics |
| Phreesia | New York, NY | 4.0 | Healthcare IT |
| DecImmune Therapeutics | Cambridge, MA | 3.0 | Wound care |
| PointCare Technologies | Marlborough, MA | 1.8 | Diagnostics |
| NeurAxon | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 14.0 | Pain therapeutics |
| Horizon Discovery | Cambridge, UK | 9.8 | Cancer biomarkers |
| Eykona | Oxford, UK | 1.9 | Wound imaging |
| Total Raised US | 84.7 | ||
| Total Raised Non-US | 25.7 | ||
| Grants and Contracts | |||
| Company | Funding/Contracting Agency | Amount Raised (USD M) | Principal Focus |
| Grants | |||
| Rockland Immunochemicals | NIH SBIR Phase 1 | N/A | Antibody technology |
| Akonni Biosystems | NIH Challenge Grant | 3.0 | Genetic tests |
| Corhythm | Texas Emerging Technology Fund | 3.1 | Medical devices |
| Fe3 Medical | Texas Emerging Technology Fund | 2.8 | Drug delivery |
| Neurolink | Texas Emerging Technology Fund | 3.2 | Medical devices |
| DecImmune Therapeutics | NIH Phase II SBIR | 2.2 | Wound care |
| A&G Pharmaceutical | NCI Phase II SBIR | 1.2 | Personalized medicine technology |
| Inovio Pharmaceuticals | NIH Direcotr's Office | 3.1 | Vaccines |
| PolyMedix | NIH Phase II SBIR | 1.0 | Cardiovascular therapeutics |
| Embera NeuroTherapeutics | National Institute on Drug Abuse | 3.9 | Addiction therapeutics |
| Contracts | |||
| ATS Corporation | National Cancer Institute | 13.3 | Software services |
| Newport Medical Instruments | HHS BARDA | 6.7 | Ventilators |
| Total Grants and Contracts | 43.5 | ||
| PUBLIC FINANCINGS | |||
| Company | Ticker | Amount Raised (USD M) |
Financing Type |
| Amyris Biotechnologies | AMRS | 84.8 | IPO |
| QRxPharma (Australia) | ASX:QRX | 13.6 | PIPE |
| BioDiem (Australia) | ASX:BDM | 1.0 | PIPE |
| Protox Therapeutics (Canada) | TSX:PRX | 10.0 | PIPE, first tranche |
| Stellar Biotechnologies (Canada) | TSX-V:KLH | 1.0 | PIPE |
| Apricus Biosciences | APRI | 9.3 | PIPE |
| Biomoda | OTC:BMOD | 0.6 | PIPE |
| ProUroCare Medical | OTC:PUMD | 3.1 | PIPE |
| Chelsea Therapeutics | CHTP | 35.0 | Follow on |
| MAP Pharmaceuticals | MAPP | 43.5 | Follow on |
| Sunesis Pharmaceuticals | SNSS | 15.5 | Follow on |
| Titan Pharmaceuticals | OTC:TTNP | 5.0 | Loan |
| Micro Identification Technologies | OTC:MMTC | N/A | Securities Purchase Agreement |
| Advanced Life Sciences | OTC:ADLS | 1.5 | Warrant exercise |
| Advanced Life Sciences | OTC:ADLS | 10.0 | Equity purchase agreement |
| TOTAL PUBLIC FINANCINGS-US | 208.3 | ||
| NON-US | 25.6 | ||
| M&A | |||
| Acquirer | Target | Deal Value (USD M) |
Focus |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals | Qualitest Pharmacetuicals | 1,200.0 | Generics |
| Virtual Radiologic | NightHawk Radiology Services | 170.0 | Diagnostics |
| PharMerica | Chem Rx | 70.6 | Healthcare |
| Sanofi Pasteur (Sanofi-aventis, France) | VaxDesign | 60.0 | Tools/Technology |
| Guizhou Huixian Investment Management (China) | Tongjitang Chinese Medicines (China) | 38.1 | Traditional Chinese Medicines |
| Crocker Ventures | TMJ Implants | N/A | Medical devices |
| ARTES Biotechnology (Germany) | Anavax (Select Vaccines, Australia) | N/A | Vaccines |
| Alliances | |||
| Company/Licensee | Company/Licenser | Deal Value (USD M) |
Focus |
| Sanofi-Aventis (France) | Covance | 2,200.0 | Drug development service contract |
| CMIC (Japan) | Dyax | 106.0 | Hereditary angioedema drug license |
| Sanofi-Aventis and Sanofi Pasteur (France) | Pieris (Germany) | 65.5 | Technology license and drug discovery collaboration |
| Bruker Daltonics (Bruker) | BD Diagnostics (Becton, Dickinson and Company) | N/A | Diagnostics collaboration |
| Acucela | Otsuka Pharmaceuticals (Japan) | N/A | Eye drug co-promotion |
| HUYA Bioscience | Quintiles | N/A | Cancer treatment partnership |
| Daiichi Sankyo (Japan) | KINAXO Biotechnologies (Germany) | N/A | Cancer treatment collaboration |
| Bayer Schering Pharma (Germany) | Ligon Discovery | N/A | Drug discovery collaboration |
| Quintiles | Health Kare Pharma International (Egypt) | N/A | Commercialization services joint venture |
| Public/Private Partnerships | |||
| Company | University/Nonprofit | Deal Value (USD M) |
Focus |
| Mucosis (the Netherlands) | PATH | Vaccine collaboration | |
| Eli Lilly | Foundation for the National Institutes of Health; Fogarty International Center | 1.27 | Russia-U.S. Research Joint Venture |
October 01, 2010
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-amyris_completes_ipo.html
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