Promethera Biosciences, a Belgium-based liver disease treatment developer backed by pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, has begun preparations for an initial public offering in April or May 2017, Le Soir reported on Tuesday.
Promethera, which also counts construction firm SMS Group, drugs company Shire, conglomerate Mitsui and bioprocess systems manufacturer ATMI as investors, is targeting between €30m and €40m ($34m and $45m) in the offering.
The company also revealed it is in process of raising €6m to €10m in funding from two unnamed Chinese backers and one undisclosed Korean investor, with the aim of later adding €4m from current shareholders. The capital would sustain the company until mid-2018.
Existing shareholders include Belgian federal public holding company SFPI-FPIM, Société Régionale d’Investissement de Wallonie (SRIW), Sopartec, Vesalius Biocapital, Life Sciences Partners, NivelInvest, Capital & Croissance, LRM and Vives.
Spun out of UCL in 2009, Promethera is working on treatments for liver diseases. The company’s lead candidate, HepaStem, has been most extensively tested against a rare condition called urea cycle disorder, which causes an accumulation of toxic ammonia in the blood stream.
The proceeds from the IPO would help Promethera to conduct clinical trials of its treatments for liver inflammation.
Promethera raised $25m in a 2014 series C round featuring SMS Investments and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, the respective corporate venturing units of construction firm SMS Group and pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, as well as Vesalius and SFPI-FPIM.
SRIW provided €5m in the form of loans and subsidies at the time of the 2014 round.
In 2012, Promethera secured $22.7m in a series B round that featured Boehringer Ingelheim, Shire, Mitsui and ATMI, after Sopartec, SRIW, Vesalius, Life Sciences Partners, NivelInvest, LRM and Vives had injected €5.3m in series A capital in 2009.