Cortexyme, a US-based Alzheimer’s disease drug developer, has filed for an $86.3m initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market that will enable corporates Alphabet, Pfizer and Takeda to exit.
Founded in 2012, Cortexyme is working on therapeutics to treat Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases. Its approach focuses on the presence of a pathogenic bacterium called porphyromonas gingivalis in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
The IPO proceeds will support a phase 2/3 trial for the company’s lead product candidate, COR388, a small molecule drug intended to inhibit gingipains, harmful enzymes that are secreted by porphyromonas gingivalis.
Cortexyme has raised $101m in venture funding, including $1m in seed capital from Dolby Family Ventures and Breakout Labs in 2014, and $15m in a 2016 series A round led by pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.
Fellow pharmaceutical company Takeda also participated in the round, through corporate venturing subsidiary Takeda Ventures, along with existing backers that included Dolby Family Ventures.
Pfizer, Takeda Ventures, Breakout Ventures and Dolby Family Ventures returned for Cortezyme’s $76m series B round, which also featured internet and technology group Alphabet’s Verily Life Sciences subsidiary, in June 2018.
Sequoia Capital, Vulcan Capital, Epiq Capital Group, RSL Investments, Smallcap World Fund, Huizenga Capital and the Lamond Family also contributed to the series B round, which was closed together with the conversion of $8.8m in convertible notes issued earlier in the year, according to the IPO filing.
Cortexyme’s largest shareholder is Pfizer, which owns a 14.7% stake, followed by Pierre and Christine Lamond (13.3%), Tkeda Ventures (12.3%) and Smallcap World Fund, a mutual fund overseen by investment manager Capital Research and Management Company (7.2%).
Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Canaccord Genuity and JMP Securities have been appointed underwriters for the offering.
