Bob Langer-founded Lyra Therapeutics raises $56M in latest high-end biotech IPO
Another pandemic biotech IPO has sold at the high range.
Lyra Therapeutics said today their public offering, first filed in early March, raised $56 million, with 3.5 million shares selling at $16. Although that was a price-per-share at the top of their $14 to $16 range, the offering remains just a hair short of the initial goal of a $57.5 million.
Founded around an implant developed by MIT’s Bob Langer and Harvard’s George Whitesides, Lyra is testing their lead candidate, LY-210, in a Phase II trial for chronic rhinosinusitis — a condition in which spaces inside the nose and sinuses are continually inflamed, causing breathing difficulty and a perpetually stuffy nose amid a long list of other symptoms. Originally developed for peripheral artery disease, the company’s implant is used to deliver the generic anti-inflammatory mometasone furoate directly to the affected muscles.
Lyra’s raise comes on the heels of a string of several large biotech IPOs, as companies such as Zentalis Pharmaceuticals and ORIC Therapeutics were able to raise large amounts of capital in a market eager to find assets largely insulated from the pandemic. Earlier this week, ADC Therapeutics, after withdrawing a $200 million filing in October, returned with a $100 million offering.
The company has a second asset — essentially the same implant but larger to accommodate patients whose sinuses have been enlarged from surgery — now entering a proof-of-concept trial, but the vast majority of the proceeds will go to a Phase III trial and commercialization costs for LY-210. A data readout on the Phase II is expected in the first quarter of 2021.
The IPO comes just 3 months after a $30 million Series C led by Perceptive Advisors. Entering the public offering, Perceptive owned about a third of the company (32.4%). Other large shareholders included North Bridge Venture Partners (17.3%), entities affiliated with Polaris Venture Partners (16%), RA Capital Healthcare Fund (9.6%) and Intersouth Partners VII (7.9%).
