Galera Therapeutics, a US-based radiotherapy medicine developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Novo and Novartis, set the terms yesterday for an initial public offering that will raise $80m at the top of its range.
The offering is set to consist of 5 million shares issued on the Nasdaq Global Market priced between $14 and $16 each to raise between $70m and $80m. Existing shareholders have expressed interest in buying up to $40m of the shares, according to the IPO filing.
Galera is working on drugs that are intended to reduce tissue toxicity caused by radiotherapy therapy for cancer patients.
The company will put the lion’s share of the IPO proceeds into its lead candidate, GC4419, which is in a phase 3 registrational trial to reduce severe oral mucositis in patients, a condition where the mucous membranes become inflamed as a side effect of radiotherapy.
Additional capital will fund a planned phase 2a trial for GC4419 in the reduction of radiotherapy-induced oesophagitis, which inflames the oesophagus, in addition to a trial testing its ability to increase the efficacy of stereotactic body radiation therapy in cancer treatment.
The offering follows $144m of funding, including $70m in an oversubscribed series C round in September 2018 featuring Novartis and Novo, which invested through their Novartis Venture Fund and Novo Ventures units, as well as Nan Fung Life Sciences, part of property developer Nan Fung.
Clarus led the round, which included Adage Capital Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, RA Capital, Rock Springs Capital, Tekla Capital Management, Correlation Ventures, Galera Angels, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Sofinnova Ventures.
Galera had previously closed a $57m series B round in 2016 that included $15m from Sofinniva and participation from Novo Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, NEA, Enso Ventures, Correlation Ventures and Galera Ventures.
Novartis Venture Fund and NEA had already co-led an $11m series A round for the company in 2012 that was also backed by Correlation Ventures, following earlier funding from scientific services provider ABC Laboratories, Biogenerator, St Louis Arch Angels and Centennial Angels. It added $4.7m in 2014 according to a securities filing.
Novartis Bioventures and Novo respectively own 17% and 15% stakes that will be diluted to 13.5% and 11.9% in the offering. NEA will remain its largest shareholder, with a 16.2% share post-IPO, followed by Sofinnova (9.6%) and Blackstone (5.9%).
Underwriters BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) and BTIG will have the option to buy an additional 750,000 shares, which could potentially lift the IPOs’s size to $92m.
