Intellia has set out to prove that gene editing pioneers are immune to the current market chill for biotech IPOs. The Cambridge, MA-based company outlined plans to raise around $140 million from its proposed IPO, selling 5 million shares at $16 to $18 a share and handing over a block of stock to Regeneron and Novartis for $55 million.
As is common these days, insiders at the company--who helped to raise a $70 million crossover round--are expected to play a big role in the IPO for Intellia, one of the first of the upstarts to set out to commercialize CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tech.
Intellia was founded in 2014 after it was backed by Atlas and Novartis ($NVS). And it has a long path ahead of itself before any commercial product could be approved for use. The excitement around the field has also supported startups like Editas, which launched a highly successful IPO early this year, and Caribou, founded by UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna, which outlicensed CRISPR tech to Intellia. CRISPR Therapeutics, co-founded by Doudna’s former lab partner Emmanuelle Charpentier, rounds out the small lineup of pioneers in the space. And both CRISPR Therapeutics and Intellia are allied in a struggle with Editas over control of the IP involved.
The technology has been evolving, but it centers on a simple method for reengineering DNA, which may well have profound consequences in treating disease. Novartis was drawn in early as a backer and partner on CAR-T work, which will use the tech to work on adoptive T cell therapies for cancer. Intellia’s S-1 spells out a deal in which Novartis agreed to pay $50 million in an upfront and research fees over 5 years along with up to $230 million in milestones.
Regeneron ($REGN), meanwhile, paid $75 million upfront to partner with Intellia earlier this month.
The intense early interest has proven to be persuasive in winning the support of a public market that has developed a bad case of dyspepsia in recent months for high-priced biotech stocks. But to some in the investment community, it still looks a bit overblown.
“Gene editing is a bubble,” one prominent VC mentioned to me in a conversation a few days ago in London. And that’s a sentiment that has been mentioned more than once in discussions over recent months, as investors weigh the preclinical work that still has to be done in the field.
The bull thesis, though, underscores that this is a radical new way to deal with disease; a technology that promises to overthrow old drugs and old markets. And in a matter of a few years, it could be possible to start seeing some solid proof of concept data from early stage studies.
We’ll find out who’s right in the years to come. In the meantime, Intellia is setting out on the quest with a substantial bankroll and some of the biggest partners in biopharma.
The company plans to trade as "NTLA."