US-based liver and metabolic disease drug developer Cirius Therapeutics has filed to raise up to $86.3m in an initial public offering that will enable pharmaceutical firm Novo to exit.
Founded in 2015 as Octeta Therapeutics, Cirius plans to use the IPO proceeds towards clinical development and ultimately the manufacturing of its lead product candidate, MSDC-0602K, an oral small molecule treatment for a liver disease known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, with fibrosis.
MSDC-0602K is currently undergoing a phase 2b trial and the company announced positive results from the first 328 patients who have come back for their six-month visit, in October 2018. It expects to release final results for the drug in late 2019.
The company raised $17.1m from venture capital firm Hopen Life Sciences Ventures and William D. Johnston Trust in 2016 according to the IPO filing, before adding an amount the filing stated was $35m in a 2017 series A round co-led by Novo.
Novo invested $12.6m according to the filing, joining Frazier Healthcare Partners, which co-led the round, Hopen, Renaissance Venture Capital Fund and Adams Street Partners. Cirius subsequently raised $10m from existing backers in August 2018, the filing stated.
Novo holds 19.7% of the company’s shares, its other notable investors being drug developer and founding shareholder Metabolic Solutions Development Company (22.2%), Frazier (20.6%), Hopen (9.7%), Adams Street (8.8%) and William D. Johnston Trust (7.9%).
Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Needham & Company and Wedbush Securities are the underwriters for the offering, which will take place on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
