Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly EuroBiotech Report. When Shield Therapeutics filed to go public in London on September 7, biotech stocks looked in good health and it appeared all set to raise $110 million ($168 million). But after four weeks in which drug pricing emerged as the go-to political football in the U.S. and economic issues rocked markets, Shield's confidence in its ability to pull off a smooth IPO has waned, prompting the specialty pharma to hit pause on its plans. The big question now is how quickly the situation will settle down. Cell Therapy is among the companies monitoring the IPO market. The Welsh regenerative medicine specialist has stepped up its planning for a possible IPO in recent weeks as it mulls how to finance the advance of Heartcel, a stem cell therapy that has a shot at winning a quickie conditional approval in Europe. DBV Technologies (EPA:DBV) laid out another piece of the data set it is building to lead it to an approval of its own. The results came from an open-label extension of the French biotech's Phase IIb trial, which found that the proportion of kids who responded to a peanut allergy drug increased after a second year of treatment. Merck ($MRK)-partnered Euroscreen raised €16 million ($18 million) to support development of its lead candidate in women's health diseases. Evgen Pharma began a second attempt to go public in London to finance Phase II trials of its vegetable-inspired asset. And more. Nick Taylor (email | Twitter)
1. Market volatility prompts Shield Therapeutics to pull plug on £110M IPO
Shield Therapeutics picked a bad time to try to go public. Since it unveiled its plans on September 7, the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index has slumped 10% and confidence on the London Stock Exchange has seesawed as well. Faced with such conditions, Shield has decided to postpone its listing in London.
2. Cell Therapy mulls IPO as regenerative medicine boards EMA fast track
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has put Cell Therapy's Heartcel on its conditional approval pathway, raising the possibility the allogeneic stem cell therapy could come to market in 2017. And with the drug now nearing the market, Cell Therapy has begun to sound out investors about an IPO.
3. DBV shares tick up on long-term data from PhIII-ready peanut allergy drug
Shares in DBV Technologies traded up as much as 13% in Paris following the publication of long-term data from a trial of its peanut allergy treatment. The open-label extension to a Phase IIb trial found that the extra year of taking Viaskin Peanut was associated with a rise in the proportion of kids who responded to the treatment.
4. Merck-partnered Euroscreen raises €16M to support IND filing
Euroscreen has topped up its bank balance to support the globalization of its clinical trial program. The €16 million ($18 million) round will allow the G-protein coupled receptor specialist to file an IND and advance ongoing Phase II trials of its lead candidate in women's health diseases.
5. Evgen pitches downsized IPO to support trials of vegetable-inspired pipeline
Evgen Pharma has rebooted its IPO plans months after abandoning an attempt to raise £20 million ($30 million) on the London Stock Exchange. The aim now is to tap investors for £5 million, a sum that will support Phase II trials of Evgen's vegetable-inspired drug in breast cancer and stroke.
And more articles of note >>