Xilio Therapeutics, a US-based immuno-oncology drug developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Takeda, Merck & Co, Ipsen and Merck Group, has filed for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market.
Founded in 2016, Xilio is developing treatments that precisely target tumours to attack while minimising side effects. A $100m placeholder figure was given for the filing.
Proceeds from the offering would be used to take three of Xilio’s drug candidates – XTX101, XTX202 and XTX303 – through various stages of Investigational New Drug applications and phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials, as well as advancing other tumour-selective programmes.
Takeda and Merck & Co participated in Xilio’s $95m series C round in February 2021 through respective subsidiaries Takeda Ventures and MRL Ventures Fund. It was led by Rock Springs Capital and also featured Atlas Venture, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Deerfield Management, RA Capital Management, RiverVest Venture Partners and SV Health Investors.
Takeda Ventures had previously led the company’s $100.5m series B round, in March 2020, which included MRL Ventures, Merck Group and Ipsen’s M Ventures and Ipsen Ventures units.
Investment and financial services group Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital also took part in the round, as did Atlas Venture, Bay City Capital, RiverVest Venture Partners, SV Health Investors and Solasta Ventures. It followed $30m in series A funding from F-Prime Capital and Atlas Venture in 2018.
Atlas Venture is the largest Xilio shareholder, with 13.3%, followed by F-Prime (9.9%), Bain Capital Life Sciences Investors (7.8%), Deerfield Management (7.8%), Takeda Ventures (7.6%), SV Health’s SV7 Impact Medicine Fund (6.7%), RiverVest Venture Fund IV (6.2%) and MRL Ventures (5.1%).
Morgan Stanley, Cowen and Guggenheim Securities are acting as joint book-running managers on the offering, while Raymond Jones is lead manager.
