Adagio Therapeutics, a US-based coronavirus antibody therapy developer backed by drug discovery firm Adimab and internet technology group Alphabet, raised more than $309m in an initial public offering on Friday.
The offering took place on the Nasdaq Global Market and involved the company issuing 18.2 million shares priced at $17 each, in the middle of the IPO’s $16 to $18 range, valuing it at $1.84bn. Its shares closed at $20.88 at the end of Friday.
Founded in 2020, Adagio is focusing on therapies targeting coronaviruses including Sars-CoV-1 and Sars-CoV-2, and its lead drug candidate, ADG20, is designed to inhibit and neutralise covid-19 caused by the latter.
The startup will use the IPO proceeds to advance clinical development and manufacturing capabilities in addition to commercialising ADG20.
Adagio had completed a $336m series C round in April this year led by RA Capital Management that included Alphabet’s GV subsidiary, Adimab and investment and financial services group Fidelity.
Redmile Group, Federated Hermes, Foresite Capital, ArrowMark Partners, PremjiInvest, OrbiMed, Polaris Partners, Mithril, Population Health Partners and Omega Funds filled out the series C round.
GV had previously led an $80m series B round for the company in November 2020 featuring Fidelity, Polaris Partners, Mithril Capital, OrbiMed, Population Health Partners and Omega Funds.
Polaris Partners and Mithril co-led Adagio’s $50m series A round four months earlier to help incubate the company, investing alongside GV, Fidelity, OrbiMed and M28 Capital.
Adimab’s 30.8% stake in Adagio was diluted to 25.7% in the offering while Fidelity retains 9.2% post-IPO, Mithril 8.5%, Polaris Partners 7.4%, GV 5.2%, OrbiMed 4.6% and RA Capital 4.4%.
Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Stifel and Guggenheim Securities are joint underwriters for the offering. They have a 30-day option to buy up to 2.73 million additional shares that could expand it to about $356m.
