Singapore-based oncology drug developer Aslan Pharmaceuticals filed for an $86.3m initial public offering on Monday that will enable contract manufacturer Advanced Materials Technologies (AMT) to exit.
Aslan is working on treatments for cancer as well as orphan conditions in the United States and Europe, and diseases that are highly prevalent in Asia. Its lead program, varlitinib, is a growth factor receptor inhibitor intended to treat biliary tract cancer and gastric cancer.
The IPO proceeds will fund global and Chinese clinical trials for varlitinib in both cancer conditions, in additon to earlier-stage trials for two more product candidates, one of which is being developed to treat acute myeloid leukaemia.
Aslan has raised $100m in funding, most recently closing a $23m round featuring Daiwa Taiwan-Japan Biotech Fund, which is overseen by investment bank Daiwa Securities, TopTaiwan, KGI Venture Capital, Taya Ventures, Milestone Capital and China Galaxy in July 2016.
The company received $43m in an early 2016 series C round featuring engineering and technology provider Accuron, pharmaceutical company Tianda Pharmaceuticals and, according to the IPO filing, a $2m investment by AMT.
Haitong International, Morningside Ventures, Bioveda Capital, Cenova Ventures, Sagamore Bioventures and MVP Capital Partners also took part in the series C round. Aslan’s earlier backers include XinChen Ventures.
AMT owns a 1.6% share of Aslan while Cenova vehicle Alnair Investment holds 7.6% and BioVeda 5.8%. Aslan also received $2m in debt financing in 2015 according to the IPO filing.
Leerink Partners and Piper Jaffray are joint bookrunning managers for the offering, which will take place on the Nasdaq Global Market, while BTIG, HC Wainwright and CLSA are also underwriters.