GlycoMimetics is reviving its efforts to go public, filing another S-1 after pulling the plug on plans to cash out for as much as $86 million.
The Gaithersburg, MD, biotech's latest pitch is stripped of any and all dollar figures, saying only that the company will spend the lion's share of its haul on GMI-1271, an early-stage treatment for acute myeloid leukemia, and put the rest toward preclinical R&D and corporate expenses. GlycoMimitecs' lead candidate is the Phase III-ready GMI-1070, treating the rare vaso-occlusive crisis, and the biotech has handed over that drug's worldwide rights to partner Pfizer ($PFE) in exchange for up to $340 million in milestones.
GlycoMimetics' initial filing sought up to $86 million, eventually scaled down to around $64 million before getting the ax in November. The company never disclosed its thinking behind the withdrawal, but the standard "market conditions" complaint is a fair assumption.
So what's changed since November? If anything, 2013's historically bullish biotech market has only further slowed down since GlycoMimetics' first attempt, as high-dollar tank jobs from the likes of Amarin ($AMRN), Ariad ($ARIA) and Sarepta ($SRPT) seem to have scared off public investors. The company, however, was sitting on about $7.7 million in cash as of Sept. 30, meaning it's going to have to raise some more funds somehow if it plans to get GMI-1271 into Phase I trials on its own.
And while this has been the best year for biotech IPOs since 2000, things are settling down for the winter. The most recent entrants, TetraLogic ($TLOG) and Kindred Biosciences ($KIN), faced scaled-back share prices and delays on their way to Wall Street.
- here's the filing