HilleVax, a US-based vaccine developer spun off by pharmaceutical firm Takeda, has filed for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Formed as a collaboration between Takeda and venture capital firm Frazier Healthcare Partners, HilleVax is working on a vaccine for norovirus infection-triggered acute gastroenteritis.
HilleVax’s lead product candidate, HIL-214, has already undergone several clinical tests under Takeda’s auspices, but the company has transferred the open investigational new drug application for it to HilleVax, which now plans to conduct a phase 2b clinical trial for the vaccine.
The IPO comes after HilleVax raised approximately $140m in an August 2021 convertible note round in which Frazier Healthcare Partners invested $35.8m, investment firm Deerfield $15m and VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners $10m.
Takeda subsidiary Takeda Vaccines retains a 9.1% stake in the spinoff while Frazier owns 43.7% of its shares and 8.4% is held by the estate of the late Tadataka Yamada, a company co-founder who was Takeda’s chief medical and scientific officer and a venture partner at Frazier.
The underwriters for the offering are JP Morgan Securities, SVB Securities, Stifel Nicolaus and Guggenheim Securities.
