Splat: Singapore’s Aslan tanks on Nasdaq debut, raising $42M in IPO and trending down

Singapore-based drugmaker Aslan Pharmaceuticals priced its IPO today way under Wall Street’s expectations, bringing in a little more than half the target haul it announced in March.

The company raised $42 million in the public offering Friday, a far cry from the $86 million it first set intentions for in a SEC filing just six weeks prior. It offered 6 million shares at $7.03, listing on the Nasdaq under the ticker $ASLN. Aslan’s stock dropped pretty immediately, sinking as low as 26% this morning to $5.28 per share. Although it’s climbing up as the hours tick by, the stock is still trading at about 18% below open as of press time.

Carl Firth

With a lead oncology drug in a pivotal study for biliary tract cancer and a slate of key catalysts coming up in other trials, Aslan plans to use the proceeds to push forward its pipeline. Helmed by Carl Firth — the former BD chief for AstraZeneca in Asia who owns 4.7% of the stock — Aslan has a global strategy to roll out its cancer drugs in China, the US, and Europe. The lead product candidate is varlitinib, a pan-HER drug that is also in the clinic for gastric, breast and colorectal cancers.