The Burrill Report


Four biotech companies completed IPOs on U.S. exchanges on February 4, and one company went public in Japan. These deals follow last week’s pricing of five biotechs. The 10 IPOs already completed surpass the number of such offerings since August 2000. And the wave of offerings is not expected to stop. Another five companies are slated to go out before the end of the week and five more are expected to price next week.

Dutch biotech UniQure raised $91.8 million in an upsized offering of 5.4 million priced at $17 a share, 18 percent above the midpoint of its target range. UniQure’s Glybera is the first gene therapy approved in the European Union to restore enzyme activity in adults diagnosed with familial lipoprotein lipase deficiency.

Rare neurology disease drug developer Auspex Pharmaceuticals completed an upsized offering at the top of its range. The biotech raised $72 million through the sale of 7 million shares at $12 a share. The company had originally planned to sell 5.5 million shares but had raised that number to 6 million before it priced. Auspex’s lead therapeutic SD-809 is in a late-stage trial to treat the rapid uncontrolled movements associated with Huntington’s disease. Auspex plans to submit an NDA for the drug’s approval in the last quarter of 2014.

Two biotechs priced at the low end of their target range. Genocea Biosciences raised $66 million by offering 5.5 million shares at $12 a share. The company’s lead therapeutic, a vaccine for herpes infection, is currently in phase1/2 testing. Cancer diagnostic developer Biocept raised $19 million by selling 1.9 million shares at $10 a share.

Acucela, a company developing drugs for eye diseases and headquartered in Seattle, completed an IPO in Japan on February 3. The biotech raised $162.4 million through the sale of 9.2 million shares at $17.65 a share, just below the top of its target range of $15 to $18. Acucela’s emixustat is in mid- and late-stage testing to treat dry age-related macular degeneration and is partnered with Otsuka Pharmaceutical.

February 05, 2014
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-five_more_biotechs_go_public.html