Print
After more than a month of almost no activity and a lot of speculation about whether or not investors had filled their coffers with biotech IPOs, seven companies—six on U.S. exchanges and one on the Euronext—raised almost a half billion dollars through initial public offerings during the week just before BIO 2014 in San Diego, the industry’s annual global convention. The life sciences industry has raised $9.1 billion globally through 123 IPOs in the period between last year’s BIO International Convention and this year’s upcoming meeting.
During the past 14 months, 97 companies raised $7.5 billion in the United States alone, with another seven IPOs in France, five in Japan, three in Taiwan, and two in the United Kingdom that included $333.5 million raised by UK biotech Circassia in March, an outsized IPO in any market especially considering the lack of IPO activity there.
Contrary to the dozen or so biotech IPOs since the middle of March, only one issue in the past week took a deep haircut before going public. The IPOS started with ZS Pharma’s upsized offering above the target range and ended similarly with Kite Pharma’s IPO. ZS Pharma, which has a lead compound in late-stage development for hyperkalemia, raised $107 million through an upsized initial public offering of 5.9 million shares at $18 a share. It had originally planned to raise $80 million by selling 5 million shares in a range of $15 to $17 a share. Shares jumped 57 percent in their first day of trading.
CAR-T cancer immunotherapy biotech Kite Pharma raised $127.5 million through an upsized IPO of 7.5 million shares at $17 a share. The biotech, which plans to start a mid-stage trial of its lead drug in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma, had originally planned to sell 6 million shares in a range of $12 to $14 a share. Kite’s shares surged 75 percent in their trading debut.
Zafgen raised $96 million through the sale of 6 million shares at $16 a share. The developer of obesity therapies had originally planned to sell 5 million shares in a range of $14 to $16. The company plans to begin testing its lead compound beloranib in a late-stage trial to treat a severe form of genetic obesity and a second mid-stage trial to treat severly obese patients.
Ardelyx priced its initial public offering at $14, the midpoint of its target range, selling 4.3 million shares to raise $60 million. The biotech’s lead compound tenapanor is in mid-stage trials for patients with kidney disease and with partner AstraZeneca, in mid-stage trials to treat constipation predominant irritable bowel syndrome. AstraZeneca has exclusive global rights to tenapanor under a 2012 deal.
Signal Genetics raise $8.5 million cutting the number of shares offered to 850,000 from it original target of 2.3 million shares. The diagnostics company markets a gene expression profile prognostic test that predicts the risk of early relapse in patients with multiple myeloma.
Parnell Pharmaceuticals was the only company that had to slash its price to get its deal done. The Australian animal health company raised $50 million through the sale of 5 million shares at $10 a share. It had originally planned to sell 3.2 million shares in a range of $17 to $19 a share.
French medical device maker Pixium Vision $46.7 million through the sale of 4.2 million shares at $11.12 a share in an IPO on the Euronext Paris exchange and a private placement to institutional investors outside the United States. Pixium is developing a vision restoration system for blind people that is currently in a European clinical trial. Pixium Vision is hoping for a European launch in 2015.
Finally, Allied Minds, a Boston-based company that is basically an incubator of sorts creating subsidiaries around promising early stage research emerging from academia and research institutions, raised $142.8 million in an IPO on London’s AIM exchange.
As of June 20, 2014, the 97 life sciences companies that completed IPOs between BIO 2013 and BIO 2014 were up 36.4 percent on average and the 73 therapeutics companies that had completed IPOs in that period were up 44 percent on average. With 34 companies in the IPO queue and all this positive IPO activity ahead of BIO 2014, the industry has reason to be exuberant as they gather in San Diego.
June 20, 2014
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-biotech_ipos_hit_the_market.html
