US-based vaccine developer Moderna Therapeutics set its pricing range at $22 to $24 yesterday for an initial public offering that will offer exits to pharmaceutical firms Merck & Co, AstraZeneca and Alexion Pharmaceuticals.
The company will issue 21.7 million shares and raise more than $521m if it floats at the top of the range. It will list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Founded in 2010, Moderna is developing vaccines and drugs based on messenger RNA (mRNA), which transfers instructions stored in DNA to make proteins in cells. Moderna’s approach consists of directing mRNA to produce proteins that prevent, treat or cure a disease.
The company currently has 21 candidates in its pipeline, 10 of which have reached the clinical testing stage. Its drug candidates cover a wide range of applications, from infectious and rare diseases to immuno-oncology.
Moderna will use between $315m and $345m of the proceeds to fund drug discovery, clinical development, an expansion of its manufacturing platform and a strengthening of its infrastructure.
Approximately $75m to $85m have been allocated to the further development of its technology platform and the creation of new modalities. The remainder will go towards general corporate purposes.
Moderna has raised some $1.8bn in funding to date, including $450m in a 2015 round that featured Alexion as well as Viking Global Investors, Invus, RA Capital Management and Wellington Management.
AstraZeneca put $140m into a $474m funding round in September 2016 that also featured Boston Biotech Ventures with an $87m commitment.
Merck injected $125m in May this year through a collaboration deal, three months after Moderna closed a $560m funding round at a valuation of $7.5bn.
Alexandria Venture Investments, part of real estate trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, also backed the February round, as did financial services provider Julius Baer, Fidelity Management & Research, BB Biotech, Sequoia Capital China, Pictet, Viking Global Investors, ArrowMark Partners, EDBI and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
AstraZeneca currently holds an 8.4% stake in Moderna, which will be diluted to 7.9%.
Flagship Pioneering, the venture capital firm that incubated Moderna, owns 19.5%, which will be reduced to 18.1%, while Timothy Springer’s 5.7% shareholding will be diluted to 5.3% and Viking’s 5.5% stake will drop to 5.1%.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Securities, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Barclays Capital, Piper Jaffray, Bryan, Garnier &, Oddo BHF, Oppenheimer, Needham & Company and Chardan Capital Markets are the underwriters for the offering.
