Ocular Therapeutix, a US-based biopharmaceutical company focusing on hydrogels to treat eye diseases, went public on Friday, raising $65m from an underpriced initial public offering.
Ocular, which counts healthcare companies Ascension Health and Baxter Healthcare among its backers, issued 5 million shares priced at $13.00 each, below its range of $14-$16.
Part of the proceeds from the offering will be used to advance Ocular’s OTX-DP drug candidate through clinical trials, with up to $24m to go to other clinical, preclinical and regulatory activities, and up to $9m to sales and marketing.
Ascension Health, which owned a 12.5% stake in Ocular through its CHV II fund, owns a 9.5% stake post-IPO. Baxter Healthcare holds a 4% share, but Ocular’s largest shareholders remain Versant Ventures (14.4%), Polaris Ventures (12.3%) and SV Life Sciences (11.4%).
The company previously raised more than $68m in venture funding.
Morgan Stanley, Cowen and Company and RBC Capital Markets are the joint book-running managers of the offering, while the co-manager is Oppenheimer & Co. They will have the 0-day option of buying a further 750,000 shares, which would increase the size of the offering to $74.75m.
Ocular opened on Nasdaq at $13.00 on Friday and closed at $13.15.