2020 is turning out to be a big year for Praxis Precision Medicines. After launching in May with $100 million, the CNS-focused biotech wasted no time topping up its coffers with another $110 million. Now, it’s pulled off a $190 million IPO, upgrading from the $100 million listing it originally sought in September and the revised goal of $175 it set on Thursday.
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The old plan was to sell 7.4 million shares at a price between $16 and $18 apiece, but the company bumped the offering up to 10 million shares at $17 to $18 each. Praxis ended up selling the 10 million shares at $19 apiece.
As its name suggests, Praxis is taking aim at the genetic underpinnings of brain disorders to create precision medicines for them. It has three programs in the clinic for depression, essential tremor, epilepsy and pain.
About $70 million to $80 million of the IPO proceeds will bankroll the phase 2a and phase 2/3 trials of lead asset PRAX-114, an oral modulator of GABAA receptors, according to a securities filing. The company is testing the drug in major depressive disorder and perimenopausal depression.
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The company tagged $30 million to $40 million to see a second program, PRAX-944, through phase 2a and phase 2/3 studies in essential tremor. Another $20 million to $30 million will fund a phase 1 study in healthy people, as well as the first patient trial, for PRAX-562, a treatment for genetic epilepsies and pain disorders.
All told, the IPO proceeds, along with its previous funding rounds, should carry Praxis through the next 18 months, the company said in the filing.