Hookipa Pharma, the US-based immunotherapy developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Gilead Sciences, Takeda and Boehringer Ingelheim, has floated in an $84m initial public offering.
The company issued 6 million shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market priced at $14 each, at the bottom of the IPO’s $14 to $16 range, valuing it at approximately $356m.
Hookipa is developing immunotherapies using its arenavirus platform, targeting infectious diseases and cancer, and is focusing on three lead product candidates.
HB-101 is intended to prevent cytomegalovirus infections, a common virus that may not cause any symptoms in healthy people but which can lead to complications in pregnant women and patients with a weakened immune system. HB-201 and HB202 target cancers caused by human papilloma virus.
The company will use the IPO proceeds to conclude a phase 2 trial for HB-101, advance HB-201 and HB-202 through phase 1 clinical trials and move another candidate, a metastatic, hormone-resistant prostate cancer treatment called HB-301 into phase 1 trials.
Hookipa had secured approximately $134m in funding ahead of the flotation. Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) and Takeda Ventures, respective corporate venturing subsidiaries of Boehringer Ingelheim and Takeda, first invested through a $27.5m series B round in 2013.
The series B round also included Sofinnova Partners, BioMedPartners and Forbion Capital Partners, all of which returned for a $59.6m series C round in 2017 that included BIVF, Takeda Ventures and Gilead Sciences. It was led by an unnamed investment fund and also featured HBM Partners, Hillhouse Capital and Sirona Capital.
Hookipa subsequently received $37.5m in a February 2019 series D round led by Redmile Group and backed by a $2.1m investment by Takeda Ventures, as well as Invus, Samsara BioCapital and Baker Brothers Life Sciences.
BIVF owned an 8.6% stake in Hookipa ahead of the offering which has been reduced to 6.5%, while Takeda Ventures’ shareholding has been diluted from 5.7% to 4.4%.
Baker Brothers remains Hookipa’s single largest shareholder, with a 15% stake post-IPO. Its other major shareholders are Sofinnova (14.2%), Forbion Capital (9.6%), HBM (4.1%) and Redmile (3.9%).
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, SVB Leerink, and RBC Capital Markets are joint book-running managers for the offering while Kempen is co-manager. They have a 30-day option to purchase up to 900,000 more shares, boosting its size to $96.6m.
