PrintNine life sciences companies have made their U.S. market debut in the past two weeks, ranging from digital health plays to biofuels makers, albeit with mixed results. This week’s offering included renewable fuels and chemical developer Gevo, the tools company Fluidigm, biotech drug developer AcelRx, medical device maker Kips Bay Medical.
Gevo was the first to complete its IPO, going public at the top of its target range. The company sold 7.15 million shares at $15 to raise $107 million. Trading under the symbol GEVO, its shares ended the week up 4.3 percent. Burrill & Company, publisher of The Burrill Report,
Next up, Fluidigm priced at the bottom of its range, at $13.50, and raised $75 million. Its shares, trading under the symbol FLDM, ended the week up almost 4 percent. Kips Bay Medical also priced at the bottom of its target range, offering just 2.1 million shares to raise $17 million. Shares, under the symbol KIPS, ended the day down less than 1 percent.
AcelRx, the only healthcare biotech in the bunch, had to slash its price to get its deal done. AcelRx had hoped to go public last week but poor market reception delayed its offering. The company had hoped to price between $12 and $14 a share but dropped its price to $5. It raised $40 million to debut on Friday under the symbol ACRX. Its shares ended their first day of trading off 10 percent.
The Redwood City, California-based company’s lead drug, a treatment for acute and breakthrough pain is currently in mid-stage development. Its poor reception and subsequent performance is indicative of a market that is just not excited by a company that is not a near-term revenue play. Another biotech that had its debut last week, Pacira Pharmaceuticals (PCRX), also had to slash its price in half to go public. It also ended the week below its offering price, but just off by 1 percent. Endocyte, the only other health biotech to go public in the U.S. so far this year, also struggled to IPO. It had hoped to offer its shares for $13 to $15 but ended up offering them for $6. However, investors may like its story better. Its lead drug, an ovarian cancer treatment that is being paired with a companion diagnostic, is ready for late stage testing. Shares of Endocyte (ECYT) ended the week up almost 19 percent. Burrill & Company, publisher of The Burrill Report, is an investor in Endocyte.
The best performer of the nine, by far is Epocrates, a digital health company that allows doctors and healthcare professionals to access information about drugs, diseases, insurance, lab data, and patient data from their mobile devices at the point of care. The company offers several fee apps besides its premium products and makes most of its revenue from pharmaceutical companies that want to capture those eyeballs and conduct market research. It went public above its target price and ended its second week of trading 43.7 percent above its debut price.
DEALS FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 11, 2011
| Global Venture Financings | |||
| Company | Location | Amount Raised (USD M) | Principal Activity |
| Elenza | Roanoke, VA | 24.0 | Medical devices |
| Ulthera | Mesa, AZ | 10.5 | Medical devices |
| Arsanis | Lebanon, NH | 9.6 | Antibody discovery |
| SironRX Therapeutics | Cleveland, OH | 0.5 | Wound care |
| to-BBB technologies | Leiden, Netherlands | 5.4 | Drug delivery |
| Altacor | Cambridge, England | 3.0 | Specialty pharma |
| Scandinavian Micro Biodevices | Copenhagen, Denmark | 2.8 | POC diagnostics |
| Eviagenics | Paris, France | 1.8 | Tools/Technology |
| Total Raised US | 44.6 | ||
| Total Raised Non-US | 13.0 | ||
| Grants | |||
| Company | Funding Agency | Amount Raised (USD M) | Principal Activity |
| Galapagos (Belgium) | Flemish agency for Innovation by Science and Technology | 3.7 | Antivirals |
| Geospiza | NIH NHGRI phase II SBIR | 1.2 | DNA sequencing |
| Total Grants | 4.9 | ||
| Public Financings | |||
| Company | Ticker | Amount Raised (USD M) |
Financing Type |
| Gevo | GEVO | 107.0 | IPO |
| Fluidigm | FLDM | 75.0 | IPO |
| AcelRx Pharmaceuticals | ACRX | 40.0 | IPO |
| Kips Bay Medical | KIPS | 17.0 | IPO |
| RedHill Biopharma (Israel) | Tel Aviv | 13.6 | IPO |
| Verisante Technology (Canada) | TSX-V:VRS | 1.0 | PIPE |
| BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics (Israel) | OTC:BCLI | 0.3 | PIPE |
| Paladin Labs (Canada) | TSX:PLB | 34.9 | Follow on |
| Repros Therapeutics | RPRX | 11.8 | Follow on |
| Marina Biotech | MRNA | 5.1 | Follow on |
| Optimer Pharmaceuticals | OPTR | 67.5 | Follow on |
| Cynapsus Therapeutics (Debt) | TSX:CTH | 0.3 | Debt |
| Sanuwave Health | OTC:SNWV | 4.1 | Option exercise |
| American Scientific Resources | Pink:ASFX | 10.0 | Equity line agreement |
| Total Public Financings-US | 337.5 | ||
| Total Public Financings-Non-US | 50.1 | ||
| M&A | |||
| Acquirer | Target | Deal Value (USD M) |
Focus |
| Danaher | Beckman Coulter | 6,800.0 | Tools/Technology |
| Fosun Pharma (China) | Dalain Aleph Biomedical (China) | 102.4 | Vaccines |
| Cephalon | Alba Therapeutics | 22.0 | Immunology |
| Evotec (Germany) | Kinaxo Biotechnologies (Germany) | 21.7 | Drug deveopment |
| Alexion Pharmaceuticals | Orphatec Pharmaceuticals (Germany) | 3.0 | Rare disease |
| Crawford Wound Care (United Kingdom) | Ark Therapeutics (United Kingdom) | 4.3 | Woundcare |
| Becton, Dickinson | Accuri Cytometers | N/A | Tools/Technology |
| Pfizer | Ferrosan subsidiary (Denmark) | N/A | Consumer products |
| Circassia (United Kingdom) | Airmid drug rights | N/A | Autoimmune |
| Alliances | |||
| Company/Licenser | Company/Licensee | Deal Value (USD M) |
Focus |
| XDx | LabCorp | N/A | Diagnostics marketing agreement |
| Optimer Pharmaceuticals | Astellas Pharma (Japan) | 224.0 | Infectious drug license |
| Progenics Pharmaceuticals | Salix Pharmaceuticals | 350.0 | Marketed GI drug license |
| Genzyme | Valeant Pharmaceuticals | 9.0 | Marketed Orphan drug license |
| Allergan | Valeant Pharmaceuticals | N/A | Marketed acne drug license |
| Elan (Ireland) | Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany) | N/A | Antibody therapeutics partnership |
| Anacor Pharmaceuticals | Medicis Pharmaceutical | 160.0 | Acne drug discovery collaboration |
| ThermoGenesis | Beike Bio-Technology (China) | N/A | Stem cell systems marketing agreement |
February 11, 2011
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