PrintBoth Anacor Pharmaceuticals and Zogenix failed to price this week while automaker General Motors stole the headlines with its $20 billion IPO, an offering that could become the world’s largest initial offering if underwriters exercise their option for all of the overallotments.
Anacor has developed five molecules that are in clinical development using its boron chemistry platform, a technology that it says allows improved absorption of drugs with fewer side effects. The company has a research agreement with Eli Lilly for animal health products and a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline for anti-infectives. This is its second attempt to go public, after withdrawing its initial offering during the financial crisis of 2008. The biopharma plans to offer 4.7 million shares priced between $16 and $18 to raise up to $80 million to help fund a late stage trial of its lead therapeutic, a topical antifungal to treat nail and nail bed infections.
Zogenix, which sells a needle-free migraine drug that is delivered under the skin, had hoped to go public this week through an initial offering of 6 million shares priced between $12 and $14 per share. The company began marketing its device in January and had achieved net product revenues of $11.8 million as of the end of September.
Both companies were considered among the weakest prospects during a week when 10 IPOs were planned and their offerings have been moved to day-to-day status, which means that underwriters will price them when they can, depending on market demand.
In Europe, the anticipated IPO of Zealand Pharma was delayed by four days to November 22. The Danish biotech had hoped to raise about $140 million but cut its offering price on Thursday by 33 to 44 percent even as its CEO David Solomon told Reuters that there was broad investor interest. The company’s lead product, a type 2 diabetes drug, is partnered with Sanofi-Aventis with late stage data due in the coming months.
In Russia, however, Pharmsynthez, a small pharmaceutical company, raised $17.7 million through an initial public offering on the Moscow stock exchange, selling 22 million shares at the middle of its price range. The contract manufacturer aims to list on the Nasdaq in 2012 or 2013.
Eli Lilly’s corporate venture group Lilly Venture participated in two venture financings that closed during the week. It led a $24 million series C round in Cerulean Pharma, a developer of nano-drugs. All other existing investors including Polaris Venture Partners, Venrock, Lux Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners participated in the round. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company plans to use the funds to advance its first-in-class nano-pharmaceutical into a mid-stage trial in non-small cell lung cancer. It will also use the funds to further develop its platform technology, which it says makes drugs more effective and with fewer side effects.
Lilly Ventures also participated in a $36.5 million tranched series C financing in San Francisco-based Sutro Biopharma. Skyline Ventures led the round with participation from Amgen Ventures and existing investors SV life Sciences and Alta Partners.
Sutro develops and designs novel protein therapeutics and biosuperiors that have site-directed modifications, including modifications incorporating non-natural amino acids, opening up opportunities to create protein therapeutics that cannot be produced using conventional methods.
Boston-based Verastem closed a $16 million series A financing from Longwood Founders Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cardinal Partners, and MPM Capital. The company is focused on discovering and developing novel drugs that selectively target cancer stem cells.
DEALS FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 19, 2010
| Global Venture Financings | |||
| Company | Location | Amount Raised (USD M) | Principal Focus |
| Sutro Biopharma | San Francisco, CA | 36.5 | Biobetter drugs |
| Cerulean Pharma | Cambridge, MA | 24.0 | Nanodrugs |
| Verastem | Boston, MA | 16.0 | Cancer therapeutics |
| Cool Planet Biofuels | Camarillo, CA | 8.0 | Industrial/Ag |
| Beech Tree labs | Providence, RI | 7.0 | Drug discovery |
| Minerva Biotechnologies | Waltham, MA | 4.6 | Cancer diagnostics |
| Kala Pharmaceuticals | Waltham, MA | 3.0 | Therapeutics |
| NanoDetection Technology | Cleveland, OH | 2.0 | Diagnostics |
| Plasma Technologies | Corpus Christi, TX | 2.0 | Medical devices |
| BridgePoint Medical | Plymouth, MN | 1.0 | Medical devices |
| Vivacta | Sittingbourne, United Kingdom | 6.4 | Point-of-care diagnostics |
| RepRegen | London, United Kingdom | 1.6 | Biomaterials |
| Total Raised US | 104.1 | ||
| Total Raised Non-US | 8.0 | ||
| Grants and Contracts | |||
| Company | Funding/Contracting Agency | Amount Raised (USD M) | Principal Focus |
| Grants | |||
| ProtAffin Biotechnologie (Austria) | Austrian Forschungs-Forderungs-Gesellschaft | 3.7 | COPD |
| Deinove (France) | OSEO Innovation and others | 1.8 | Antibiotics |
| Amakem (Belgium) | Flemish agency for Innovation | 1.7 | COPD |
| Selenium | National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders | 0.2 | Antimicrobials |
| Stratatech | NIAID Fast-Track SBIR | 3.5 | Tissue repair |
| Active Motif | NIMH SBIR | 0.3 | Epigenetics |
| InteRNA (Netherlands) | Agentschap Innovation Credit | 1.8 | Cancer |
| Contracts | |||
| PolyMedix | US Army Phase 2 STTR | 0.8 | Infectious diseases |
| Total Grants and Contracts | 13.8 | ||
| PUBLIC FINANCINGS | |||
| Company | Ticker | Amount Raised (USD M) |
Financing Type |
| Pharmsynthez (Russia) | MICEX | 17.7 | IPO |
| Clavis Pharma (Norway) | OSE:CLAVIS | 25.7 | PIPE |
| IS Pharma (United Kingdom) | LSE:ISPH | 14.5 | PIPE |
| Stellar Biotechnologies (Canada) | TSX-V:KLH | 3.7 | PIPE |
| Sernova (Canada) | TSX_V:SVA | 1.0 | PIPE |
| ValiRx (United Kingdom) | LSE:VAL | 0.4 | PIPE |
| NeoStem | NBS | 19.0 | PIPE--Two concurrent offerings |
| BSD Medical | BSDM | 10.5 | PIPE--RDO |
| Synta Pharmaceuticals | SNTA | 5.0 | PIPE |
| Lpath | OTC:LPTN | 4.9 | PIPE |
| Oxis International | OTC:OXIS | 0.3 | PIPE |
| Avanir Pharmaceuticals | AVNR | 88.0 | Follow on |
| Endo Pharmaceuticals | ENDP | 400.0 | Debt |
| Laboratory Corporation of America | LH | 925.0 | Debt |
| Valeant Pharmaceuticals (Canada) | VRX | 1,000.0 | Debt |
| KV Pharmaceutical | Kva/KVb | 120.0 | Term loan, tranched committed loan, warrants |
| Medizone International | OTC:MZEI | 10.0 | CEFF |
| Helicos BioSciences | OTC:HLCS | 2.0 | Convertible promissory notes |
| TOTAL PUBLIC FINANCINGS-US | 1,584.7 | ||
| NON-US | 1,063.0 | ||
| M&A | |||
| Acquirer | Target | Deal Value (USD M) |
Focus |
| Cardinal Health | Kinray | 1,300.0 | Pharmaceutical distributor |
| BTG (United Kingdom) | Biocompatibles International (United Kingdom) | 282.7 | Oncology |
| Sekisui Chemical (Japan) | Genzyme Diagnostics | 265.0 | Diagnostics |
| Kelun Pharmaceutical (China) | Guojing Pharma | 37.0 | Pharmaceuticals |
| LeMaitre Vascular | Angiotech's Lifespan Vascular Graft | 2.8 | Medical devices |
| NovAliX (France) | Graffinity Pharmaceuticals (Germany) | N/A | Drug discovery |
| Cold Genesys | BioSante Pharmaceuticals | N/A | Virus technology |
| Molecular Response | Oncotech | N/A | Cancer tissue bank |
| Targeted Genetics | Biocontrol (United Kingdom) | N/A | Biologics |
| DiscoveRx | Ambit Bisociences screening unit | N/A | Tools/Technology |
| Alliances | |||
| Company/Licensee | Company/Licenser | Deal Value (USD M) |
Focus |
| Eisai Pharmaceuticals (Japan) | Forma Therapeutics | N/A | Drug discovery collaboration |
| Xenon Pharmaceuticals (Canada) | Isis Pharmaceuticals | N/A | Anemia therapy collaboration |
| Physio-Control | AirStrip Technologies | N/A | Digital health partnership |
| ICON (Ireland) | Proteome Sciences | N/A | Biomarkers partnership |
| TapImmune | Mayo Clinic | N/A | Vaccine technology license |
| Private/Public Partnerships | |||
| Company | Institution | Deal Value (USD M) | Focus |
| Pfizer | UC San Francisco | 85 | Drug development collaboration |
| Ingenuity Systems | Sage Bionetworks | N/A | Bioinformatics collaboration |
November 19, 2010
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-two_biotechs_fail_to_ipo_.html
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