The 2026 IPO streak continues as Electra Therapeutics has filed to go public to support its immunology and cancer pipeline.
The South San Francisco-based biotech plans to use the funds to advance several assets through the clinic and has applied to list its shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ETRA, according to an SEC filing.
Following an $183 million series C in October aimed at supporting its lead asset, the company said the new funds will also advance development of ipsoprubart, formerly named ELA026. The monoclonal antibody is in an ongoing global phase 2/3 trial in patients with secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH), a rare, life-threatening hyperinflammatory syndrome caused by overactivation of the immune system. The condition can be brought on by cancer, infection, autoimmune disease or immunotherapy and requires immediate intervention.
Ipsoprubart targets signal regulatory proteins (SIRP) to selectively deplete pathological immune cells, and the company said IPO funds would also support a potential biologics license application (BLA) and commercial readiness.
The trial follows a phase 1b study in malignancy-associated HLH—the condition when it is tied to cancer—in which ipsoprubart achieved a 100% overall survival rate at eight weeks among 12 frontline patients. The therapy has received breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA and PRIority MEdicines (PRIME) designation from the European Medicines Agency, which Electra says makes ipsoprubart the first asset to receive both designations for sHLH. Electra CEO Kathy Dong told Fierce last year that the phase 2/3 ipsoprubart trial was expected to wrap enrollment in 2027, with topline data to follow shortly after.
The filing also detailed that IPO proceeds would be used to advance the development of ipsoprubart in T/NK cell malignancies through its phase 1 clinical trial and to move another candidate, ELA822, through its ongoing phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers. Electra has planned a phase 1/2 trial for patients with T cell-mediated immune disorders for ELA822, a monoclonal antibody targeting signal regulatory protein gamma (SIRPγ) on immune cells.
Dong joined Electra in 2023 after working for Novartis, Gilead and True North Therapeutics, which was bought by Bioverativ, which itself was purchased by Sanofi in 2018. Dong spent the next five years at Star Therapeutics, a biotech portfolio company run by former executives from True North, and left in 2023 to run Electra, which had previously received $100 million from Star. In addition to the fundraise in 2025, when Sanofi was a new investor, Electra landed an $84 million series B round in 2022.