Key to IPO success: recruiting ‘insiders’ who will buy into the offering

Posted under Biotech IPO, Biotech Venture Capital, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, NewLink Genetics, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

The Scientist takes a crack at covering the few courageous--or is it foolhardy?--biotech companies willing to go public these days. Steven Burrill notes that there's no appetite for risk, echoing a common theme on Wall Street. And with precious few biotechs de-risked, there are precious few new offerings.

One key ingredient for success? Recruiting the kind of investors who are willing to follow up and buy into your IPO. Ironwood CEO Peter Hecht notes he "sort of cheated" at his IPO, with insiders buying up 40% of its IPO.

"If you look at the IPOs in the biotech space over the last couple of years, they've all had significant insider participation in order to make it possible," NewLink Genetics CFO Gordon Link tells The Scientist. And Atlas' Bruce Booth calls insider participation biotech's "dirty little secret."

- here's the story from The Scientist

Special Report: The 10 biotech IPOs of 2011

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NewLink Genetics – Biotech IPOs of 2011

Posted under Biotech IPO, Blog, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, NewLink Genetics, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by Maureen Martino

Company: NewLink Genetics ($NLNK)
Based: Ames, IA
Raised: $43.4M (6.2M shares for $7)
Target range: 5.5M shares at $10 to $12
Current price: $6.48

Scoop: NewLink, a cancer vaccine developer, joins other biotechs on this list with no marketed products and little to no revenue. But the company was still able to pull off an IPO in November even though it had to cut its stock price to get the deal done. 

The company's pancreatic cancer vaccine HyperAcute Pancreas for surgically resected patients was featured in FierceBiotech's look at promising late-stage therapies for the disease. A late-stage trial of the drug in 700 Stage I and II patients is in progress, with full enrollment expected in 2013. HyperAcute Pancreas, which has gained fast track and orphan drug status, is also being studied as an adjuvant treatment for melanoma and lung cancer patients whose cancer has been surgically removed. NewLink was founded in 1999.