US-based gene therapy developer AvroBio has filed to raise up to $86.3m in an initial public offering that would enable pharmaceutical firm EMS to exit.
Founded in late 2015, AvroBio is working on therapies that will utilise haematopoietic stem cells extracted from the patient and modified to treat rare diseases.
The proceeds will be used to move the company’s lead drug candidate, a treatment for genetic disorder Fabry disease, into phase 2 clinical trials, and a second candidate into phase 1/2 trials for Gaucher disease, a genetic condition where the liver and spleen can be abnormally enlarged.
The company will put additional cash into preclinical development of a candidate for a metabolic disorder known as Pompe disease, and to advance a developmental treatment for lysosomal storage disease cystinosis toward the clinic.
Venture capital firm Atlas Venture supplied $1.5m in seed funding for AvroBio in January 2016 and invested $10m in a $25m series A round in August the same year, with Clarus Ventures and SV Life Sciences each providing $7.5m.
Brace Pharma, the strategic investment arm of EMS, took part in AvroBio’s $60m series B round in February this year, but its stake in the company is worth less than 5%.
The series B round was co-led by Citadel Advisors vehicle Surveyor Capital and Cormorant Asset Management, and included Atlas Venture, SV Life Sciences, Clarus Ventures, Aisling Capital, Eventide Asset Management and Morningside Venture Capital.
AvroBio’s largest shareholders are Atlas Venture (26.6%), Clarus (16.6%), SV Life Sciences (15.3%), Cormorant and Citadel Advisors (7.6% each), and University Health Network, which picked up its 6.5% stake after licensing its Fabry asset to the company in early 2016.
Morgan Stanley, Cowen and Company, Wells Fargo Securities and Wedbush Securities are the underwriters for the IPO, which is set to take place on the Nasdaq Global Market.