Acacia Pharma, a UK-based nausea and vomiting treatment developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Lundbeck and Novo, revealed plans on Monday for an initial global offering on the Euronext Brussels market.
The company has not disclosed how much it expects to raise in the flotation, which will be conducted as a private placement open to certain institutional and other investors outside the US.
The offering will be open only to qualified institutional investors in the US, with Acacia relying on an exemption to a federal law that would otherwise require it to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bank Degroof Petercam and RBC Europe are joint global coordinators for the offering.
Founded in 2007, Acacia is developing treatments for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) that affect approximately 30% of patients, and up to 80% of high-risk patients, that use anaesthetic gases and opioid painkillers.
Acacia is also working on treatments for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), which affects between 30% and 90% of cancer patients depending on what type of cancer they have. In severe cases, CINV can lead to delay, reduction or withdrawal from chemotherapy.
The company has advanced a lead candidate, Baremsis, for PONV through phase 3 clinical development and is awaiting approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, which is set to conclude its review by October 2018.
The therapy for CINV, APD403, has completed two phase 2 trials and is set to enter an additional phase 2 study before Acacia hopes to advance it into phase 3. Both Baremsis and APD403 are administered intravenously.
Acacia will use the proceeds to boost its sales and marketing activities, focusing on the launch of Baremsis by early 2019 once it has received regulatory approval. The money will also support further development of APD403.
Acacia previously targeted a $230m initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, but put those plans on hold in 2015 due to unfavourable market conditions.
The company has raised approximately $53.6m in total funding, most recently closing a $23.5m series B round in 2013 co-led by Novo and F-Prime Capital Partners, a subsidiary of financial services group Fidelity.
The series B round was also backed by Lundbeckfonden Ventures, the investment arm of Lundbeck, and healthcare investment firm Gilde Healthcare.
The latter two investors had already supplied $10m in series A capital for Acacia in 2011, after Gilde had provided an undisclosed sum in 2008.