Biotech's protracted IPO hot streak is attracting drug developers of all sizes to the Wall Street trough, including a pair of companies eyeing micro-offerings in hopes of funding their lead programs.
Israel's Intec Pharma is looking to raise $46 million, offering 4.5 million shares with plans to jump from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq and trade under "NTEC." With the proceeds, Intec plans to advance its "accordion pill" technology, a drug delivery system the company says can improve the efficacy of existing drugs by increasing the time they spend in the stomach. The biotech's top prospect is an accordion-enabled take on the standard Parkinson's drugs carbidopa and levodopa, slated to enter Phase III in the second half, followed by a Phase II treatment for insomnia.
EyeGate Pharmaceuticals, based in Massachusetts, is angling for an IPO do-over after scrapping plans to go public last year. The company plans to offer just 869,566 shares and raise about $13 million. EyeGate has just one clinical candidate, EGP-437, a treatment for a range of inflammatory ocular diseases that relies on the company's proprietary delivery device. Earlier this month, Valeant Pharmaceuticals ($VRX) bought into the program, trading $1 million up front and promising as much as $32.5 million more tied to regulatory and sales milestones.
Meanwhile, the cheery reception for biotech IPOs has showed no signs of slowing down in the second half of 2015. After more than 30 drug developers went public in the first 6 months, more and more upstarts are lining up with similar ambitions. Over the past week alone, ProNAi Therapeutics ($DNAI) raised $138 million in a Nasdaq debut, and Chiasma ($CHMA) hauled in $101 million.
- read Intec's filing
- here's EyeGate's S1