AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, a US-based developer of pain therapies formerly known as SuRx Pharmaceuticals, has revised its regulatory filing ahead of its planned flotation on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
AcelRx will issue 6.6 million shares at up to $14 each to raise $92.9m, including 865,500 shares the investment bank Piper Jaffray can sell if demand is strong enough. After the initial public offering (IPO), AcelRx will have a market capitalisation of up to $230m based on 16.1 million shares in issuance.
AcelRx has raised venture capital (VC) backing from Kaiser Permanente Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of healthcare company Kaiser Permanente, and VCs Alta Partners, Skyline Ventures and Three Arch Partners.
Kaiser owns 5.5% of AcelRx, which will be diluted down to 3.6% after the IPO, and the three VCs an aggregate 86%, according to its regulatory filing.
AcelRx raised $20m in its series B round in February 2008 at $4 per share and $14.8m in its series C round at $0.99 per share in November last year. An $8m bridge loan to convert into shares was sold in September.