Aprea Therapeutics, a US-based cancer drug developer backed by healthcare provider Praktikertjänst, has raised $85m yesterday in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
The company issued approximately 5.7 million shares on Tuesday priced at $15 each, in the middle of the IPO’s $14 to $16 range. Its shares rose by more than a third to close at $20.50 on its first day of trading yesterday, giving it a market cap of about $408m.
Spun out of Karolinska Institute in 2003, Aprea is developing cancer therapies based on reactivating the mutant p53 tumour suppressor, which is able to halt the formation of tumours. Its lead drug candidate, APR-246, targets haematologic malignancies and ovarian cancer.
APR-246 has been assigned orphan drug designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medical Agency for acute myeloid leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and ovarian cancer, and has fast track designation from the FDA for MDS.
Between $20m and $30m of the IPO proceeds will fund phase 1b/2 trials of APR-246 and potential future studies if results prove favourable. Up to $10m will support the preparation and submission of a new drug application with the FDA for the treatment in MDS, and Another $10m to $15m will go to research and development efforts for a second candidate, APR-548.
Aprea completed a $62.8m series C round in February 2019 backed by Karolinska Institute’s investment firm Karolinska Development, Redmile Group, Rock Springs Capital, 5AM Ventures, Versant Ventures, Health Cap, Sectoral Asset Management and unnamed funds managed by Janus Henderson Investors.
Karolinska Development previously participated in a $51m series B round in 2016, exchanging $7.2m of convertible notes. The series B round was co-led by Versant and 5AM Ventures and also attracted Sectoral Asset Management and HealthCap.
Btov Partners and Rosetta Capital invested an undisclosed sum in the company in 2013, after Aprea had raised $5.75m in series A capital from Karolinska Development in 2011 according to a regulatory filing.
The company raised undisclosed amounts from Praktikerinvest, the corporate venturing division of Praktikertjänst, and Swedish state body Östersjöstiftelsen in 2005, and from Swedish government-owned investment unit Industrifonden two years later.
Versant and 5AM remain Aprea’s largest shareholders, with their stakes being diluted from 17.7% to 12.7% in the offering. Its other notable investors are Karolinska Development (12.3% post-IPO), HealthCap (10.6%), Redmile (9.4%) and Sectoral Asset Management (7.4%).
JP Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley and RBC Capital Markets are the joint book-running managers for the offering. They have been granted a 30-day option to acquire up to an additional 850,000 shares which would lift the size of the offering to approximately $97.8m.
