Archive for the ‘Biotech IPO’ Category
May
14
Posted under
Bayer,
Biotech IPO,
Blog,
cancer stem cells,
Companies,
Diagnostics,
Funding,
GlaxoSmithKline,
Medical Devices,
Medical Supply,
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals,
Pharmaceuticals,
Pipeline,
Startups,
Universities,
Verastem,
Videos,
Wnt pathway by john
A year after scoring a $20 million milestone from Bayer, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals is preparing to see if it can generate enough excitement from investors for its cancer stem cell work to support a $115 million IPO.
Jefferies, Leerink Swann, Piper Jaffray and BMO Capital Markets are listed as underwriters.
Redwood City, CA-based OncoMed has some of the biggest partners in the business, which has helped fund the company since it was founded in 2004. In its filing with the SEC, the biotech says it has raised $187 million in equity financing and $112 million in collaboration cash.
Bayer's payday arrived less than a year after the pharma giant struck a $387 million development deal for each new cancer stem cell and protein therapeutic program targeting the Wnt pathway. The antibody OMP-18R5 was the first of these programs to make it into the clinic. OncoMed also struck a partnership deal with GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) back in 2007 on anti-cancer stem cell treatments.
OncoMed may find a cool reception among investors. Like a lot of developers, OncoMed has no products. And it doesn't have any pivotal trials to whet investors' interest. It is, though, focused on a hot field in cancer drug development; a story line that has buoyed startups like Verastem ($VSTM), one of a few successful IPOs this year.
One point in OncoMed's favor: Several biotech IPOs have managed to hold their own with investors in the first few months of 2012, with prices edging upward. For some developers, that's a good enough reason to take their IPO plans off hold and push ahead after three years of near dormant IPO activity.
- here's the S-1
- read the Reuters story
Related Articles:
OncoMed pockets $20M as it takes lead cancer antibody into trial
OncoMed scores big cancer development pact with Bayer
Key to IPO success: recruiting 'insiders' who will buy into the offering
Company 'insiders' left with 43% of Verastem's shares
May
10
Posted under
antibiotics,
Biotech IPO,
Blog,
Companies,
Diagnostics,
Funding,
Medical Devices,
Medical Supply,
Pharmaceuticals,
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals,
Startups,
Universities,
Videos by rmcbride
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, a New Haven, CT-based developer of antibiotics, opted to delay a planned May 9 initial public offering after chopping the price range of its shares for the maiden stock sale in half to $6 to $7, according to Renaissance Capital. Before postponing the IPO, Rib-X was aiming to raise $65 million in the offering. The biotech, a 2011 Fierce 15 company, is only the latest drug developer to struggle in its efforts to go public. Merrimack Pharmaceuticals ($MACK), also a 2011 Fierce 15 company, delayed an IPO before completing the offering earlier this year. Report
May
01
Posted under
Biotech IPO,
Blog,
Cempra Pharmaceuticals,
ChemoCentryx,
Companies,
Diagnostics,
Funding,
Medical Devices,
Medical Supply,
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals,
Pharmaceuticals,
Pipeline,
Startups,
Supernus,
Universities,
Videos by john
Supernus Pharmaceuticals came out of the IPO gate this morning, pricing its shares at a hefty discount in order to complete its long-planned effort to go public. The Rockville, MD-based biotech priced 11.5 million shares at $5 apiece in an IPO ($SUPN) that leaves a big chunk of its equity in the hands of its venture backers.
Supernus had tried to attract interest from investors in a $12 to $14 per share price range on 5.8 million shares. But like a long lineup of biotech companies before it, the developer had to slash the price while expanding the number of shares sold to complete the task. Citi and Piper Jaffray are the joint bookrunners.
The IPO market for biotechs has been so bad for so long now that any word of a fresh attempt is often greeted with wisecracks. But as Luke Timmerman at Xconomy noted in his column this week, there are signs of some kind of life. He ran the numbers on the four biotech IPOs mounted so far this year--Merrimack ($MACK), ChemoCentryx ($CCXI), Cempra ($CEMP) and Verastem ($VSTM)--and concluded that they had all held their own, or better, on share price. And another seven were lined up with S-1s and plans of their own, including Supernus.
"I'd say there are some rumblings of positivity," Arch Venture's Bob Nelsen tells Timmerman, who concludes that the industry should be on track to see a growing number of IPOs in 2012.
But the Supernus haircut today illustrates why the party hats and champagne bottles will be kept far away from the IPO party. These days the big numbers are being seen on the M&A side of the business, where Big Pharma companies are willing to pay solid premiums to snap up the drugs they need.
- here's the press release
Related Articles:
Supernus plots product launches as it dusts off $76M IPO attempt
Key to IPO success: recruiting 'insiders' who will buy into the offering
Merrimack Pharma stumbles out of the IPO gate
Apr
25
Posted under
Big Pharma,
Biotech IPO,
Blog,
Companies,
Diagnostics,
Funding,
Human Genome Sciences,
M&A,
Medical Devices,
Medical Supply,
Pharmaceuticals,
Startups,
Universities,
Videos by john
If you've been thinking that it's a seller's market out there for biotech companies, Bloomberg has some numbers to support the case.
Buyers have been forking over a 71% premium for companies valued at more than $500 million, says the business news service. And that's the highest level the analysts have seen since 2000. Applying that formula to Human Genome Sciences ($HGSI), which warranted a 68% premium in GSK's ($GSK) bid, the dealmakers in the crowd are looking for a bump in the offer.
"It's a good time to be a seller if you're a biotech company," Greenwood Capital's Walter Todd tells Bloomberg. "These bigger pharma companies are trying to fill in the gaps in their portfolios. Human Genome has come out and said it undervalues the company, so the assumption is that Glaxo is going to have to raise the offer or somebody else could step in."
What's driving the higher premiums? It's a simple case of Big Pharma scrambling to line up promising new drugs. That's a good place for biotech to be in, especially considering the poor IPO market that has plagued the industry for three years,
- here's the story from Bloomberg
Related Articles:
GSK and HGS posture over price and value in M&A standoff
Merck KGaA chief swears off major deals amid pipeline woes
Embattled AZ chief: Bigger R&D bets, megadeals not the answer
Is M&A getting too pricey for smart drugmakers?