Liquidia Technologies, a US-based biopharmaceutical company backed by industrial equipment and appliance maker Siemens and contract researcher PPD, raised $50m when it floated on the Nasdaq Capital Market last week.
The company issued approximately 5.45 million shares priced at $11.00 each, in the middle of the $10 to $12 range it set earlier this month, giving it a market capitalisation of about $166m.
The company’s shares opened at $12.75 on their first day of trading on Thursday and closed at $10.99 the following day.
Founded in 2004, Liquidia is developing treatments for the heart disease condition pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and post-operative pain which are based on its own particle engineering platform.
Up to $32m of the IPO proceeds will support an ongoing phase 3 clinical trial for the company’s lead drug candidate, a PAH treatment called LIQ861, while up to $1.8m will go to phase 2-enabling toxicology studies for a post-operative pain candidate known as LIQ865.
An additional $12m to $13m will be used for development and commercial activities related to both candidates. Liquidia had raised approximately $86m in funding prior to the offering, according to securities filings and press releases.
Siemens joined Wakefield Group, Firelake Capital and assorted angel investors to invest $6m in Liquidia in 2006, and the company secured $25m in a 2010 series C round featuring PPD, Canaan Partners, Firelake, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Morningside Venture Investments and Pappas Ventures.
Neither corporate held shares of 5% or more of the company pre-IPO. Its largest investors are NEA, whose 18.6% stake was diluted to 13.1%, Canaan (12.2% post-IPO), Xeraya (6.8%), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (5.3%) and Morningside (3.8%).
Joint book-running managers Jefferies and Cowen and co-managers Needham & Company and Wedbush PacGrow will have the 30-day option to buy almost 682,000 more shares, which would increase the size of the offering to $57.5m, the same as its initial target.