Pandion Therapeutics, a US-based developer of autoimmune disease treatments, floated on Friday in a $135m initial public offering that represented an exit for pharmaceutical firms Roche and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
The company priced 7.5 million shares at $18.00 each, increasing the number of shares from 5.5 million and pricing them at the top of a $16 to $18 range. Its shares opened at $27.00 on the Nasdaq Global Market and closed at $18.10 on their first day.
Founded in 2016, Pandion is using protein engineering technology to develop treatments for autoimmune diseases. The IPO proceeds will go to advancing its lead drug candidate, PT101, through an ongoing phase 1a clinical trial for ulcerative colitis and into phase 1b/2a trials.
Pandion plans to use a further $38m of the IPO takings to fund research and development of two more candidates, PT627 and PT001, including possible phase 1a trials. An additional $23.5m will support work on a fourth candidate, PT002.
The offering followed the company’s $80m series B round, which was co-led by conglomerate Access Industries’ Access Biotechnology vehicle and technology investment fund Boxer Capital in April this year.
GSK and Roche also took part in the series B round, through subsidiaries SR One and Roche Venture Fund, joining JDRF T1D Fund, Polaris Partners, Versant Ventures, BioInnovation Capital, RA Capital Management and OrbiMed.
JDRF T1D Fund had invested an undisclosed amount in Pandion in December 2018, almost a year after a $58m series A round co-led by Roche Venture Fund, Polaris Partners and Versant Ventures that included SR One and BioInnovation Capital.
Roche subsidiary Roche Finance held a 14.5% stake that was cut to 10.7% in the offering while SR One and Access Industries each came out with a 6.6% share. Pandion’s other notable investors are Versant (13.2% post-IPO), Polaris Partners (11.1%) and Boxer Capital (4.9%).
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and SVB Leerink are joint book-running managers for the offering while BMO Capital Markets is bookrunner. They have the 30-day option to buy more than 1.12 million shares, potentially boosting its size to more than $155m.
