Basilea is planning to wrap up a big year with a $190 million IPO on Nasdaq.
The Swiss biotech filed the IPO on Friday--the same day the EU provided formal approval for its antifungal drug isavuconazole, now sold as Cresemba in the U.S. by its partner Astellas.
Basilea has been marketing the antibiotic drug ceftobiprole in Europe, but it's still hammering out an ambitious Phase III program that will be needed for an FDA OK. The biotech says that it won't launch that effort until it lines up the financing or a big partnership, and this IPO is designed to provide cash for just that goal.
In the meantime, analysts are wondering if Basilea's U.S. royalty stream plus milestones from Astellas and its own incipient revenues from Europe can finally put this biotech on a straight path to profitability.
Behind ceftobiprole, the 15-year-old Roche ($RHHBY) spinout is developing a group of early-stage cancer drugs.
The lead cancer drug is dubbed BAL101553. In its F-1, the company reports that "studies show that BAL101553 destabilizes the microtubule network involved in tumor cell proliferation and stops tumor growth by a dual action on tumor cell proliferation and tumor vascularization, through a mechanism different from conventional microtubule-destabilizing agents. We anticipate completing a Phase 2a study of the intravenous formulation by the end of 2015 and are evaluating the oral formulation in an ongoing Phase 1 dose-escalation study."
According to its F-1, Basilea has two big investors: HBM Healthcare owns 7.8% of the company with Franklin Resources in charge of 8.8% of shares. The company plans to list on Nasdaq under the "BSLN" symbol.
- here's the F-1