Aptinyx, a US-based neurologic disorder drug developer backed by property and healthcare group Nan Fung Group raised approximately $102m when it floated on the Nasdaq Global Select Market yesterday.
The company issued 6.4 million shares priced at $16.00 each, at the top of the initial public offering’s $14 to $16 range, giving it a $520m market capitalisation. The number of shares was increased from 5.3 million.
Aptinyx’s shares opened at $17.40 yesterday on its first day of trading and closed at $20.20.
Founded in 2015, Aptinyx is developing synthetic small molecules that will be used to treat disorders of the brain and nervous system. It will put $15m of the proceeds into phase 2 studies for NYX-2925, a candidate targeting diabetic peripheral neuropathy and fibromyalgia.
A further $30m will fund the progress of a second candidate, NYX-458, through the completion of a phase 1 trial for cognitive impairment caused by Parkinson’s disease, and $13m will support the completion of a phase 1 trial for NYX-783 in post-traumatic stress disorder.
The IPO comes after $135m of equity financing, starting with $65m of series A funding from New Leaf Venture Partners, Adams Street Partners, PathoCapital, Goudy Park, Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Company, LVP Life Science Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Longitude Capital, Osage University Partners and Northwestern University in 2016.
Aptinyx added $70m in a December 2017 series B round led by Bain Capital Life Sciences and backed by Nan Fung unit Nan Fung Life Sciences, Adage Capital, Partner Fund Management, Agent Capital, HBM Healthcare Investments, Rock Springs Capital and all the series A investors.
Nan Fung owns less than 5% of Aptinyx. Its largest shareholder, Adams Street Partners, had its stake cut from 14.9% to 11.9% in the offering, and other notable backers include New Leaf, Longitude and Frazier (9.3% each post-IPO), Bain Capital (5.6%) and LVP (4.6%).
JP Morgan, Cowen and Company, Leerink Partners and BMO Capital Markets are joint book-runners for the IPO. They have the 30-day option to buy another 960,000 shares, which would boost the size of the offering to almost $118m.