US-based drug delivery platform developer Entrada Therapeutics raised almost $182m on Friday in an initial public offering that marks an exit for pharmaceutical firms Merck & Co and Roche.
The offering involved the sale of just over 9 million shares, priced at $20.00 each on the Nasdaq Global Market. It was upsized from 7.5 million shares which were priced at the middle of its $19 to $21 range.
Entrada has developed endosomal escape vehicle (EEV) technology that precisely delivers medication to both large and small cells to treat genetic diseases.
Proceeds from the offering will go toward advancing ENTR-601-44, a drug candidate targeting Duchenne muscular dystrophy, into clinical trials, and pushing Entrada’s myotonic dystrophy programme towards the Investigational New Drug application stage.
The company had received $116m in a series B round featuring Roche Venture Fund and MRL Ventures Fund, on behalf of Roche and Merck, in March this year.
The round was led by Wellington Management and included CareDuchenne Ventures, Redmile Group, TCG Crossover, Greenspring Associates, Point72 Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Qatar Investment Authority, AM Ventures, Goldman Sachs, MPM Capital, Agent Capital and an unnamed investment firm.
Roche Venture Fund, MRL Ventures Fund, MPM Capital, 5AM Ventures and Agent Capital had previously backed Entrada’s $59m series A round in 2018, two years after it raised $600,000 in seed funding from two unnamed investors, according to a regulatory filing.
MPM Capital is the company’s largest shareholder, with a 14.4% stake diluted from 20.7%, while 5AM Ventures owns 13.9% post-IPO, Roche Finance 9.4% and MRL Ventures Fund 5.8%.
Goldman Sachs, Cowen and Evercore are joint book-running managers for the offering. The underwriters have an option to purchase up to 1.36 million more shares, which could lift it to over $208m.
