US-based biopharmaceutical company Liquidia Technologies has filed for a $57m initial public offering that will enable research services provider PPD and industrial technology producer Siemens to exit.
Liquidia is developing therapeutics based on Print, a particle engineering platform spun off from research conducted by eminent professor of chemistry Joseph DeSimone and Edward Samulski, chairman of the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, at University of North Carolina (UNC).
The IPO proceeds will support an ongoing phase 3 clinical trial for a developmental-stage treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension called LIQ861.
Money from the offering will also fund phase 2-enabling toxicology studies for a potential post-operative pain therapy known as LIQ865, and $2.3m of the takings will be used to repay cash still owed from a promissory note issued to UNC.
Liquidia has disclosed $86m in funding through press releases and regulatory filings, including $6m in a 2006 series A round featuring Siemens, Wakefield Group, investment fund Firelake Capital and various angel investors.
PPD participated in a $25m series C round for Liquidia in 2010 alongside Canaan Partners, which led the round, Firelake Capital, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Morningside Venture Investments and Pappas Ventures.
The company’s last funding involved it raising $25.5m from undisclosed investors in February 2018, according to a securities filing.
NEA is Liquidia’s largest shareholder and owns an 18.7% stake. Other notable investors in the company are Canaan Partners (17.7%), Xeraya Capital (9.8%), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (7.5%) and Morningside Venture Investments (5.4%).
Jefferies and Cowen are joint book-running managers for the offering, which is set to take place on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Needham & Company and Wedbush PacGrow are co-managers.