Three well-groomed biotech outfits aim to sustain the frenzy for new biotech stocks on Wall Street. This week Acceleron Pharma, Bind Therapeutics and Five Prime Therapeutics proposed price ranges for their planned initial public offerings.
At least 30 biotech companies have raised billions of dollars through IPOs in 2013, in an astonishing turnaround for the deals that has made many industry watchers wonder how much longer the streak will last. And Acceleron, Bind and Five Prime could offer referenda on the health of the IPO market for early-stage drug developers.
Co-founder by MIT inventor Bob Langer, Cambridge, MA-based Bind has proposed to sell 4.7 million shares at $14 to $16 per share. The company, which develops nanoparticle drugs against cancer, would raise $70.5 million in the deal at the midpoint of the proposed price range. And Renaissance Capital reports that the deal would value the company at $237 million.
Bind recently began midstage development of its lead therapy, a nanotech formulation of docetaxel, for patients with non-small cell lung and castration-resistant prostate cancers.
Acceleron, which also bases operations in Cambridge, has pitched an IPO of 4.7 million shares at a range of $13 to $15 per share to raise $65 million, Renaissance reported. The company is developing multiple therapies, including a protein treatment called ACE-101 in collaboration with Celgene ($CELG) for rare blood disorders. The company could hit the public markets with a $370 million valuation.
On the other side of the country, South San Francisco-based Five Prime Therapeutics aims to jump onto the public markets through an IPO of 4 million shares at a price range of $12 to $14. The deal would land the developer of biologics $52 million at the midpoint of the price range, which falls below the $60 million target revealed in July. This summer Five Prime's partner, GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), launched a Phase Ib study of its therapy FP-1039 in cancer patients.
- here's the filing from Bind
- and Renaissance's post on the deal
- see Renaissance's coverage of Acceleron's proposed IPO
- check out Five Prime's filing
- and coverage from The San Francisco Business Times
Special Report: No end of biotech IPO frenzy in sight