Bringing their genetically modified gamma delta T cells to Nasdaq, IN8bio files for $86M IPO
The biotech IPO parade continues marching forward as 2020 turns toward the fourth quarter.
IN8bio, a New York-based company focused on genetically modified gamma delta T cell therapies, filed to go public Friday seeking an $86 million raise. The company has two clinical-stage candidates being studied in glioblastoma and leukemia, respectively.
By any stretch of the imagination, 2020 has already been a huge year for biotech, and nowhere does it appear more obvious than the vast amounts of companies hitting the public market.
The most updated official tally comes from Nasdaq’s head of healthcare listings Jordan Saxe, who told Endpoints News in late September that the tally sat at 56 IPOs with a combined $11.3 billion raise. At least another seven companies have priced since then, bringing the unofficial count above 60.
In the last four years, only 2018 comes close in terms of biotechs going public. That total matches that year’s tab from independent analyst Brad Loncar. Several factors have contributed to the boom, Saxe said at the time, notably with the Covid-19 pandemic highlighting an already-impressive amount of innovation in the field.
There’s also been a steady increase of crossover investors from the last few years, Saxe said, and with the pandemic economy, the fact that biotechs can provide longer-term investments than companies reliant on quarter-to-quarter sales numbers makes the industry more appealing. He added that a “conservative” estimate of the final 2020 IPO number will end up between 65 and 70.
IN8bio’s first candidate deals with newly-diagnosed glioblastoma and recently entered Phase I, as the first patient was dosed in June. Dubbed INB-200, the program is expected to see its first data readout in 2021.
The working theory behind this program centers around combining conventional chemotherapies with gamma delta T cells to alter the tumor microenvironment. IN8bio uses its tech to make the cells resistant to chemotherapy as a way of avoiding the white blood cell death that normally accompanies such treatment.
Their second candidate is called INB-100 and focuses on leukemia. Also having recently begun dosing patients in May, INB-100 data is first anticipated toward the end of 2022.
It’s here where IN8bio plans to allocate a good portion of its IPO raise. Though the biotech did not get into too many specifics, IN8bio said in its S-1 it plans to complete these two Phase I studies and initiate Phase II in both programs with the expected funds. The rest will go toward an IND and a Phase I for a third program in newly diagnosed glioblastoma, as well as other various R&D and administrative matters.
Formerly known as Incysus, IN8bio changed its name in August and was founded in 2016.
