Ambrx Biopharma, a US-headquartered immuno-oncology drug developer backed by corporates WuXi AppTec, Fosun, Sinopharm and Humanwell, has raised $126m in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company priced 7 million American depositary shares (ADS), each representing seven ordinary shares, at $18 each, at the midpoint of the offering’s $17 to $19 range.
Founded in 2003, Ambrx is focused on developing antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) to treatmultiple types of cancer. It is leveraging a genetic code technology platform that enables it to design its engineered precision drugs.
The company will use approximately $88m of the IPO proceeds to fund clinical development of its lead drug candidate, ARX788, which is being developed to treat forms of cancer including breast cancer and gastric cancer.
More than $16m will be allocated to the phase 1 clinical development of ARX517, a prospective treatment for prostate cancer. Ambrx will set aside over $31m to finance preclinical programmes and use the remainder of the proceeds to develop new product candidates and for general corporate purposes.
In November 2020, Ambrx raised $200m in crossover financing from investors including financial services and investment group Fidelity, Blackrock, Cormorant Asset Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, Invus, Adage Capital Partners and Suvretta Capital Management.
The company received $45m in a 2016 round that included Fosun Pharma, Sinopharm Capital and Humanwell Healthcare Fund, representing conglomerate Fosun, pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm and care provider Humanwell Healthcare respectively.
The 2016 round was co-led by Apricot Capital and Northeast Securities Prosperity Healthcare Fund and also featured private equity firm Hopu Investments and investment firm China Everbright’s Healthcare Fund.
Ambrx had previously raised about $78m from investors such as pharmaceutical firms Roche and Merck Group between 2003 and 2009, before it was bought in 2015 by a consortium comprised of pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec, Fosun Pharma, Hopu Investments and China Everbright’s CEL Healthcare Fund.
Hopu Investments’ Hopu Reunion Company vehicle remains the largest Ambrx shareholder following the offering, with a stake reduced from 18.1% to 14.8%. Its other notable shareholders include WuXi AppTec (11.1% post-IPO), Fidelity (6.9%), Blackrock (5.8%), Fosun Pharma (5.1%), Cormorant Asset Management and HBM Healthcare Investments (4.6% each).
Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities and Cowen are joint book-running managers and have a 30-day option to purchase just over 1 million additional ADSs, which could increase the IPO’s size to approximately $145m.