MacroGenics upsizes IPO offering in bid for $92M windfall

MacroGenics CEO Scott Koenig

MacroGenics is looking for a bigger payday when it goes public, upping its offering and share price with eyes on an $80 million IPO amid a bubbling market for biotechs.

The Maryland drug developer expects to offer 5 million shares at $16 apiece, up from its earlier plan to sell 4 million at about $15 each, and if MacroGenics' underwriters exercise their options, the company could walk away with $92 million in its Wall Street debut.

That cash would go a long way for the 2013 Fierce 15 winner. MacroGenics plans to spend $50 million of its IPO haul on lead program margetuximab, a Phase II monoclonal antibody the company believes can treat HER2-positive breast cancer. MacroGenics has another $20 million earmarked for MGA271, a Phase I immunotherapy that targets the B7-H3 regulator, which is overexpressed in a variety of solid tumors, the company said.

The biotech has cobbled together a promising pipeline since ex-partner Eli Lilly ($LLY) pulled the plug on the Type 1 diabetes treatment teplizumab in 2010 and left MacroGenics in the dumps. Since then, the company has racked up big-name partnerships on the strength of its dual affinity retargeting platform, used to engineer antibody-like drugs. With the likes of Pfizer ($PFE), Servier, Gilead ($GILD) and Boehringer Ingelheim on its client roster, MacroGenics built up enough revenue to invest in R&D, and now the drug developer is looking to shine with therapies of its own.

And its timing would seem to be perfect. Biotech IPOs are in the midst of a boom not seen since Pets.com was a viable commercial entity, with 38 drug and diagnostics outfits going public since January, raising more than $2.8 billion. Including MacroGenics, 7 more biotechs are still waiting in the IPO wings, on track to add another $380 million to that number if all goes according to plan.

MacroGenics hasn't set a date for its IPO but plans to list on the Nasdaq under "MGNX."

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