Equillium, a US-based autoimmune and inflammatory disorder therapy developer that counts biopharmaceutical company Biocon as an investor, has secured $65.4m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market.
The IPO consisted of 4.67 million shares priced at $14.00, at the foot of the offering’s $14 to $16 range, giving the company a market capitalisation of about $236m.
Joint book-running managers Jefferies, Leerink Partners and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company have a 30-day option to buy another $9.8m of shares, which would lift the size of the IPO to $75.2m.
Formerly known as Attenuate Biopharmaceuticals, Equillium is working on therapeutics for severe autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. It will put $50m of the IPO proceeds toward research and development for its lead product candidate, a monoclonal antibody known as EQ001.
The company, which was founded in March 2017, has not revealed details of any past funding, but Biocon secured an 18.8% stake through a licensing and collaboration agreement. It bought $3.2m of shares in the offering but its stake was diluted to 13.7%.
Biocon already markets EQ001, also known as itolizumab, in India as a treatment for plaque psoriasis, and Equillium obtained the US and Canadian rights to the drug in May 2017.
Equillium has no other external shareholders with a stake above 5% according to its IPO prospectus. Its shares opened at $14.15 on Friday and closed at $14.01 yesterday.
