Three new IPO filings broaden fall queue

A trio of biotechs filed for NASDAQ listings late Monday, with Phathom, 4D Molecular Therapeutics and Cabaletta each proposing to raise up to $100 million. A fourth, Vir, set terms for an IPO that could price as soon as this week.

The filings fatten a queue that is growing again following a late-summer lull. “We’re seeing more IPOs,” WBB Securities’ Steve Brozak told BioCentury. “People are now rushing to get money” (see “Fall IPO Flurry”).

Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4502) launched Phathom Pharmaceuticals Inc. in May to seek regional approval of gastrointestinal drug vonoprazan, to which it holds a license from Takeda in the U.S., EU and Canada. The company intends to start Phase III trials this quarter of the small molecule potassium-competitive acid blocker to treat erosive esophagitis and Helicobacter pylori infection. The drug is approved in nine countries, and generated more than $500 million in 2018 net sales in Japan (see “Phathom Launches With $90M”).

Phathom’s chairman is former Takeda CMO and CSO Tachi Yamada. Its CEO, David Socks, is a venture partner at Frazier; he intends to relinquish the CEO position to Phathom director Terrie Curran once Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) closes its acquisition of Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ:CELG), where she is president of the global immunology and inflammation franchise. Socks will then become Phathom’s interim CFO.

Frazier holds 41.1% of Phathom’s equity, while Socks and Yamada hold 14.2% each and Takeda 9.1%. Underwriters on the deal are Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, Evercore and Needham.

4D Molecular Therapeutics Inc. (4DMT) is developing a pipeline of gene therapies based on next-generation adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors, including three scheduled to enter the clinic next year. Of those, Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) holds rights to a treatment for choroideremia and has an option to another to treat X-linked retinitis pigmentosa; 4DMT’s program for cystic fibrosis is unpartnered.

4DMT has raised $108.6 million to date, including a $90 million series B round led by Viking Global Investors in September 2018. Viking is its largest outside shareholder with 16%, the same size as the stakes of Chairman and CEO David Kim and co-founding Chief Scientific Adviser David Schaffer, while Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) holds 11.8%. Underwriters are Goldman Sachs, Evercore, William Blair and Chardan (see “4D Raises $90M”).

Cabaletta Bio Inc.’s pipeline consists of chimeric autoantibody receptor (CAAR)-mediated cell therapies, which are autologous T cells that express an autoantigen to treat B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. The company intends to begin its first clinical study next year of DSG3-CAART to treat pemphigus vulgaris (see “CAAR Ts For Autoimmunity”).

The company’s top three shareholders are 5AM Ventures, Adage Capital Management and Baker Bros. Advisors, each with about 19%. Cabaletta has raised $86.4 million to date, including $50 million in a series B round announced in early January. Morgan Stanley, Cowen and Evercore are underwriters.

Cabaletta’s President and CEO, Steven Nichtberger, teaches a class in biotech company formation at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He established the company with scientific co-founders Aimee Payne and Michael Milone, who are both Penn professors.

Vir Biotechnology Inc. proposed to sell 7.1 million shares at $20-$22. At the $21 midpoint, a sale of that many shares would raise $150 million at a postmoney valuation of $2.3 billion. Underwriters are Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Cowen and Barclays

Three-year-old Vir, which is led by led by former Biogen Inc. and Exelixis Inc. CEO George Scangos, is taking an immunological approach to combating infectious diseases such as HBV, influenza, HIV and tuberculosis (see “Vir Plots IPO”).

https://www.biocentury.com/bc-extra/financial-news/2019-10-01/three-new-ipo-filings-broaden-fall-queue