Myovant Sciences, a US-based women’s health spinout of biopharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences, raised approximately $218m yesterday in an initial public offering that included investments by pharmaceutical firms Takeda and Pfizer.
The company issued 14.5 million shares priced at $15.00 each in what was the biggest biotech IPO of 2016 so far.
Underwriters Citigroup Global Markets, Cowen and Company, Evercore Group, Barclays Capital, JMP Securities and Robert W. Baird have a 30-day option to buy almost 2.2 million additional shares, lifting the IPO size to $250m.
Roivant spun Myovant out in June this year to develop treatments for diseases specifically affecting women, as well as for other disorders related to the body’s endocrine system.
Myovant’s lead product candidate is Relugolix, an oral small-molecule drug licensed from Takeda, and the company aims to develop it to combat heavy menstrual bleeding caused by uterine fibroids, endometriosis-associated pain and advanced prostate cancer.
Between $95m and $123m of the IPO proceeds will fund phase 3 trials for Relugolix in each of the three conditions, while earlier-stage trials for a fertility treatment called RVT-602 which was also licensed from Takeda.
Roivant held an 85.1% stake in Myovant pre-IPO that was diluted to 61.8% post-offering. Takeda invested $32.1m through the offering, meaning its existing 12.3% stake remained relatively steady at 12.2%.
Pfizer and investment firm BB Biotech both invested $30m in the IPO, picking up 2 million shares each, equating to stakes sized at about 4.6%.
Myovant floated on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, opening at $15.00, but the company’s share price had fallen to $13.26 by close of trading.