Forma Therepeutics, a US-based drug developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Novartis and Eli Lilly, will raise $212m in its initial public offering if it floats at the top of its range.
The company has set a range of $16 to $18 for the offering and plans to issue 11.8 million shares on the Nasdaq Global Market. Jefferies, SVB Leerink and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) are the underwriters.
Founded in 2007, Forma is developing treatments for cancer and rare haematologic diseases and plans to put $115m of the IPO proceeds into its lead drug candidate, FT-4202, which is in phase 1 clinical trials for sickle cell disease.
The capital will support completion of the trial and initiation of a planned phase 2/3 trial, while a further $15m will fund the progress of a potential prostate cancer treatment called FT-7051 to the dose expansion portion of a planned phase 1 trial.
Forma closed a $100m series D round in December 2019 led by RA Capital Management and backed by Cormorant Asset Management, Wellington Management, Samsara BioCapital, an unnamed healthcare investment fund and funds managed by Janus Henderson Investors.
Novartis and Eli Lilly had each provided $5m in series C funding for Forma in 2012, through subsidiaries Novartis Venture Fund and Lilly Ventures respectively.
The company had previously closed a $28.5m series B round in 2010 led by Lilly Ventures and backed by Novartis Option Fund, biopharmaceutical company Cubist Pharmaceuticals and the Singapore state-owned Bio One Capital.
Novartis had already invested $4m to lead Forma’s $5.5m series A round the year before, which also featured Bio One Capital, now known as Biomedical Sciences Investment Fund.
Lilly Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund and Biomedical Sciences Investment Fund were among the Forma investors that received a $44m dividend from the company in March 2019 according to the IPO filing, Novartis getting $15.6m and Eli Lilly $12.1m.
Novartis Bioventures owns a 12% stake set to be cut to 8.1% in the offering, while Lilly Ventures’ 9.6% share will be diluted to 6.5%. Forma’s other main investors are RA Capital (20% pre-IPO), Baker Brothers (10%), Cormorant (7.5%) and Biomedical Sciences Investment Fund (6.3%).
