Diagnostics wunderkind Foundation Medicine has made its way to the Nasdaq, hauling in a $106 million IPO at the top of its range.
Foundation sold roughly 5.9 million shares at $18 apiece, well above the $15 midpoint the company expected earlier this month, and will today trade under the symbol "FMI."
In its latest S-1, the Cambridge, MA, company said it planned to put $18 million of its IPO haul toward growing its sales force, spend $10 million to expand its lab operations and use $22 million on R&D and infrastructure.
The company was a member of last year's FierceBiotech Fierce 15, since then growing its revenue nearly fivefold thanks to FoundationOne, a sequencing-based diagnostic that combs 236 cancer-related genes to match patients with their ideal treatments.
Foundation hasn't locked up CMS reimbursement for its test, but the company has had little trouble securing partnerships with drugmakers who want to use its technology in cancer programs. Foundation's list of collaborators includes Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ), Novartis ($NVS) and Sanofi ($SNY), and $6 million of the company's $11.1 million first-half revenue came from biopharma customers.
But the company is confident it can make some non-development commercial noise with FoundationOne, and it's on the right track: In 2012, biopharma test sales accounted for nearly 80% of Foundation's revenue, but that ratio has dipped toward 50-50 so far in 2013.
- read the announcement
Special Report: Foundation Medicine – FierceBiotech's 2012 Fierce 15