Karuna Therapeutics, a US-based neuropsychiatric drug developer backed by pharmaceutical firm PureTech Health, closed its initial public offering at almost $103m on Tuesday.
The offering initially raised $89.2m last week when Karuna priced 5.58 million shares on the Nasdaq Global Market at $16.00 each. The underwriters took up the option to buy nearly 837,000 additional shares, Karuna’s shares closing at $24.45 yesterday.
Spun off from PureTech in 2009, Karuna is working on therapies for disabling neuropsychiatric disorders, and the IPO proceeds will fund clinical trials for product candidates addressing psychosis in schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, in addition to the treatment of pain.
The company had raised $123m in equity financing across two rounds, from investors including PureTech and Pivotal BioVenture Partners, which was co-founded by property developer Nan Fung.
Investment and financial services group Fidelity Management & Research, Wellcome Trust, Eventide Asset Management, Sofinnova Investments, Arch Venture Partners, Partner Fund Management and Sands Capital are also among Karuna’s backers.
PureTech remains the company’s largest shareholder, with a 32.3% stake, followed by Arch Venture Partners (13.8%), Wellcome Trust (5.5%) and Soffinova Investments (4.5%).
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo Securities were joint book-running managers for the IPO while Wedbush PacGrow was co-manager.
