Tyra Biosciences is the latest biotech to rake in an upsized IPO. Its $172.8 million deal will push three programs targeting drug-resistant cancers into the clinic.
Like many of its peers, Tyra initially filed to raise up to $100 million in its Wall Street debut. The company bumped that goal up to $135 million on Tuesday by offering 34% (2.3 million) more shares with the deal, according to a securities filing. The company eventually banked $172.8 million by offering 10.8 million shares—61% more than originally planned—at $16 apiece, according to a statement.
And, like many of the biotech companies that have gone public this year, Tyra is hitting Wall Street without any human data—a move once unheard of but that has become commonplace in a sector bolstered by optimism and its role in fighting COVID-19.
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The company will start trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker “TYRA” on Wednesday. It expects the funds to support its work through at least 2024, according to a securities filing.
Tyra is developing treatments to combat acquired resistance, which makes targeted cancer therapies stop working. Over time, tumors with mutations such as FGFR rewire themselves to evade targeted treatments and continue to grow without relying on proteins made by the mutated gene.
The company will use about $19 million of its IPO proceeds to fund its lead program through phase 1 and into a phase 1/2 study, according to the securities filing. Dubbed TYRA-300, the treatment is a small molecule that blocks FGFR3 to overcome two major limitations of today’s FGFR inhibitors. Tyra is developing it for bladder cancer and other solid tumors.
Another $19 million will bankroll the company’s program targeting FGFR2, in development for bile duct and other solid tumors. The treatment takes aim at multiple acquired resistance mutations that occur in patients undergoing treatment with other FGFR inhibitors.
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Tyra earmarked nearly $21 million for an FGFR inhibitor in a non-oncology indication. The treatment targets FGFR3 in patients with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. About 80% of achondroplasia cases stem from a mutation in the FGFR3 gene, the company said in the filing.
The rest of the funding will fuel discovery and preclinical work as well as potentially bankroll licensing deals, acquisitions or other investments, the company said.