Dutch drug developer Kiadis Pharma pulled in €32.7 million ($36.3 million) in a European IPO, raising cash to develop a pair of stem cell treatments.
The biotech made its debut on the Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Brussels exchanges, pricing about 2.6 million shares at €12.50 ($13.88) each. The company has set aside another 392,045 shares for its underwriters to cover overallotments, putting its maximum deal value at €37.6 million ($41.8 million). The IPO gives Kiadis a market cap of €166.4 million ($184.8 million).
With its newfound funds, Kiadis plans to push forward in Phase II development with ATIR101, a stem cell therapy for aggressive blood cancers, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (AML). The treatment is in the midst of an open-label Phase II trial to determine its safety, and, if all goes well, Kiadis plans to enter Phase III development in the second quarter of next year.
Behind that is ATIR201, a preclinical treatment for rare blood disorders including thalassemia. Kiadis' therapy works by transplanting healthy marrow into patients no longer producing adequate levels of hemoglobin, potentially presenting a cure for some deadly ailments. The company plans to enroll a first clinical trial for ATIR201 in the middle of 2016.
Kiadis' debut marks the first IPO of 2015's second half, following a 6-month period that saw more than 30 drug developers successfully go public. And the third-quarter queue is already filling up, with Australia's Benitec Biopharma filing to raise $70 million to support its work in gene therapies for hepatitis C while ADHD drug developer Neos Therapeutics is looking for $69 million and Patrick Soon-Shiong's Conkwest is angling for a $173 million IPO.
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