IO Biotech, a Denmark-based cancer therapy developer backed by pharmaceutical companies Novo and Lundbeck, has filed for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market.
The company has set a $100m placeholder target for the offering and Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Cowen and Kempen are the joint bookrunners.
Founded in 2014, IO Biotech is developing immunotherapies for melanoma and other cancers. Its technology platform, T-win, facilitates the activation of T-cells that target specific immune inhibitory molecules.
The company’s lead drug candidate, IO102-IO103, was recently granted a breakthrough therapy designation by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of unresectable and metastatic melanoma and will soon start a phase 3 trial.
The offering comes after a $61.5m series C round earlier this month, according to the IPO filing, which reveals it included Lundbeck vehicle Lundbeckfond Invest, Novo, HBM Healthcare Investment, Vivo Capital and Sunstone Life Science Ventures.
IO Biotech secured $154m in a January 2021 series B round featuring Novo and Lundbeck, which participated through Lundbeckfonden Emerge and Novo Seeds respectively.
The round was led by HBM Healthcare Investments and backed by Sunstone Life Science Ventures, Vivo Capital, Kurma Partners, Avoro Capital, RA Capital Management, Samsara Biocapital, Idinvest Partners, PFM Health Sciences, Soleus Capital, Eir Ventures and Serrado Capital.
The company had previously raised $20.8m in a series A round that included Lundbeckfonden, Novo Seeds and Sunstone Capital in 2016.
Novo, Lundbeckfond Invest, Sunstone Life Science Ventures, HBM Healthcare Investment and Vivo Capital are the investors with stakes in the company sized at 5% or more, according to the filing, which did not reveal their stake sizes.