A real-time look at every biotech IPO filed and the amount raised in all the world's indexes. Compiled by editor Max Gelman.
Farmington, CT-based Azitra raised close to $3 million in a Series A designed to fuel its research on microbiome therapies for the skin and now it wants to go public. The biotech filed for a place on the Nasdaq with plans to raise $8 million by offering 1.5 million shares at a price range of $4.50 to $5.50 under the ticker symbol $AZTR. Seeded by Peter Thiel’s Breakout Labs, the company identified a strain of bacteria that can be used in lotions to treat conditions like eczema and staph infections. The biotech’s lead program is ATR-12, with a Phase Ib to start in the first half of 2023 for Netherton syndrome, a rare autosomal disease caused by mutations in the SPINK5 gene. The company says there are about 20,000 patients worldwide with a potential $250 million peak sales opportunity. Earlier in the pipeline are ATR-04 for EGFR inhibitor-associated rash with an estimated start date for its Phase Ib trial in the first half of 2024 and ATR-01 for ichthyosis vulgaris with an expected IND filing date in late 2024.
Immunology biopharma Acelyrin raised $621 million at the closing of its entrance into the stock market with an upsized initial public offering of 34.5 million shares of common stock. At the time of a $250 million Series B in 2021, Acelyrin CEO Shao-Lee Lin, who previously led R&D at Horizon Therapeutics, told Endpoints News that her company would ponder an IPO “within the context of 2022.” They raised another $300 million last fall. The company is investigating izokibep, an IL-17a inhibitor, in multiple Phase IIb/III studies for moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), uveitis and psoriatic arthritis with expectations for a data drop as soon as the second half of 2023. Acelyrin paid Affibody $25 million upfront in 2021 and will dole out up to $280 million more in regulatory and sales milestones and royalties for the drug. Acelyrin has a Phase I thyroid eye disease candidate, an anti-IGF-1R dubbed lonigutamab. A Phase I/II trial in patients is ongoing. Acelyrin also has SLRN-517, a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting c-KIT, in a Phase I/II trial in both healthy volunteers and chronic urticaria patients. That study is actively enrolling.
Drug developer Mineralys Therapeutics closed its IPO of 13.8 million shares of common stock in February, collecting aggregate gross proceeds of $220.8 million. The Pennsylvania-based company plans to use the money on development of its hypertension drug lorundrostat, an aldosterone synthase inhibitor. Mineralys announced in July an expanded, exploratory two-part Phase II trial testing out lorundrostat as a potential treatment for stage 2 to 4 chronic kidney disease. The company plans to start enrolling patients in the second half of 2023 while topline data is expected between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. The biotech licensed lorundrostat from Japan’s Mitsubishi Tanabe. Mineralys first hit the scene in 2021 with $40 million in Series A funds with its focus on aldosterone, a hormone linked to increased blood pressure and a contributor to the development and progression of chronic kidney disease.
Structure Therapeutics pulled off a $161 million IPO thanks to a star scientist co-founder paired with the computational drug discovery company Schrödinger. Structure, known as ShouTi until last summer, also pulled in $198 million in private funding from blue-chip investors and has years of research work on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) and a portfolio of oral, small-molecule drugs. Raymond Stevens, the co-founder and CEO, is credited for mapping the first human GPCR in 2007 while at Scripps Research. The money raised from the IPO is going toward Structure’s small-molecule, oral drug GSBR-1290 which “demonstrated glucose-dependent insulin secretion and suppressed food intake, resulting in weight reduction,” according to the S-1 filing. In May, Structure started a Phase IIa study of GSBR-1290 in adults who are overweight or obese and in patients with type 2 diabetes who are overweight or obese. Structure is headquartered in San Francisco and has a site in Shanghai.