Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals hopes that the next phase for the biotech is as a public company. Toward that end, the Watertown, MA-based antibiotics developer plans an IPO of just over 6.8 million shares of common stock at a proposed price range of $10 to $12 per share, according to an SEC filing on March 5.
With plans to list its stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol "TTPH," Tetraphase's maiden public offering could raise $75 million at the middle of its price range.
Tetraphase, a 2010 Fierce 15 company, has embarked on the IPO trail as the company seeks financing for a pair of Phase III clinical trials for its lead antibiotic eravacycline. The fully synthetic tetracycline compound targets a broad spectrum of bugs, including those with resistance to existing antibiotics, providing a potential new weapon against deadly infections.
Multidrug-resistant infections have become a growing health threat and have scared health officials into action to both stem the kind of misuse of antibiotics that leads to resistance and to support development of new treatments. Last year the FDA formed a task force to work on the problems.
Tetraphase aims to conduct separate late-stage trials of eravacycline, including one for complicated intra-abdominal infections and the second for urinary tract infections. It aims to report top-line data from the two studies in the first quarter of 2015.
The company says its existing investors have committed to buy up to $25 million of its shares at the IPO price, including Beacon Bioventures, CMEA Ventures, Excel Venture Management, Flagship Ventures, Mediphase Venture Partners and Skyline Ventures.
Other public investors will have to follow suit with those previous backers to complete the deal. Many biotechs, including antibiotics developer Cempra ($CEMP) last year, have opted to slash their IPO prices to complete the offerings.
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Special Report: Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals - 2010 Fierce 15 | Top 10 biotech IPOs of 2012