US-based gene editing technology developer Intellia Therapeutics floated on Nasdaq on Friday in a $108m initial public offering that gave exits to pharmaceutical companies Regeneron and Novartis.
Intellia priced six million shares at $18 each on Friday, at the top of the $16 to $18 range it set last month. It also issued a million more shares than the five million it had previously planned.
Founded in 2014 by cellular engineering technology provider Caribou Biosciences, and venture capital firm Atlas Venture in 2014, Intellia is working on treatments for conditions including hepatitis B and inborn errors of the metabolism, based on Crispr/Cas9 technology.
The IPO proceeds will support the product candidates being developed for the sentinel indications to the point where Intellia can file an Investigational New Drug application. It will also look to advance other in vivo and ex vivo candidates and further develop its technology base.
Intellia raised $15m in series A funding from Caribou, Atlas and Novartis in 2014, before closing a $70m series B round featuring Novartis, Atlas, OrbiMed, Fidelity Management & Research, Janus Capital Management, Foresite Capital, Sectoral Asset Management and EcoR1 Capital in September 2015.
Novartis invested approximately $5m through a private placement concurrent to the offering and will retain a 15.9% stake through its Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research unit, down from 20.3%. Caribou will also emerge with a 15.9% share, its stake diluted from 21.5%.
Strategic partner Regeneron invested $50m through a separate private placement and will hold a 7.9% stake. Other notable shareholders in Intellia post-IPO include Atlas (12.6%), OrbiMed (6.9%) and Fidelity (5.3%).
Perhaps buoyed by its status as the first pharmaceutical company to float at the top of its range this year, Intellia’s shares opened at $22.00 on Friday and briefly rose to $24.00 before closing at $22.10.
Credit Suisse, Jefferies and Leerink Partners are serving as joint book-running managers for the offering, while Wedbush PacGrow is lead manager. They have the 30-day option to buy another 900,000 shares and lift the size of the IPO to $124.2m.