Inhibrx pulls off $119M IPO on its 2nd go-around

Inhibrx may have called off its first IPO attempt last fall, but its second go has proved much more fruitful. The antibody specialist raised $119 million in its Wall Street debut, far eclipsing the $75 million it originally sought last year.

The funds will support phase 1 studies for multiple antibody candidates, most of which are in development for cancer. Inhibrx’s programs are built on its single-domain antibody platform it thinks will yield treatments that can surmount hurdles that have previously stopped others from drugging certain targets.

The company will use about $30 million of its IPO haul to finish the dose-expansion portion of a study testing INBRX-109, a tetravalent antibody that activates the DR5 receptor to kill off cancer cells, in various cancers, including colorectal cancer and stomach cancer. That cash will also bankroll combination studies for INBRX-109, as well as scale up its commercial manufacturing, according to a securities filing.

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Another $25 million will go toward the phase 1 study of INBRX-101, a treatment in the works for Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), a rare, genetic disease that can lead to lung and liver disease. And Inhibrx has earmarked $10 million each for INBRX-106, a hexavalent antibody targeting OX40, a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family, and INBRX-105, a tetravalent antibody that targets PD-L1 and 4-1BB.

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Inhibrx filed in June 2019 to raise up to $75 million in its IPO, but withdrew its filing five months later. It tried again in July of this year, taking aim at a $100 million IPO.

It joins a slew of other biotechs who have pulled off upsized IPOs this year, including Annexon, Inozyme and iTeos Therapeutics, who collectively bagged more than $500 million at the end of July, and Pliant Therapeutics, ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Forma Therapeutics and Repare Therapeutics who went public earlier in the year.