PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, a US-based developer orphan disease drug developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, has filed to raise up to $86.3m in an initial public offering.
Founded in 2002, PhaseBio is working on therapies to treat orphan diseases – those that are suffered by less than 200,000 people worldwide – and is initially focusing on cardiopulmonary indications, which affect the heart and lungs.
The IPO proceeds will be used to advance PhaseBio’s two lead drug candidates, one of which is PB2452, a reversal agent for patients on the antiplatelet drug ticagrelor which are experiencing major bleeding. PB2452 recently completed a phase 1 dose escalation trial.
The other main candidate is PB1046, a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension, a condition where high blood pressure is experienced in the arteries of a patient’s lungs, which is currently in phase 2b trials. Additional capital will go to development of PhaseBio’s core technology.
PhaseBio raised $48.4m in a series B round featuring subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson and fellow pharmaceutical company Astellas that closed in 2012.
Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation and Astellas Venture Management invested in the round together with New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Hatteras Venture Partners and Fletcher Spaght Ventures.
The latter three returned for a $40m series C round in 2015 that was led by AstraZeneca and backed by Johnson & Johnson unit Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC. PhaseBio added $15.6m in December 2017 – $8.1m from the second tranche of a convertible note financing and a $7.5m loan facility.
AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Cormorant Asset Management, Rock Springs Capital, Mountain Group Partners, NEA, Hatteras, Syno Capital and Fletcher Spaght added another $34m in a series D round earlier this month.
NEA is the company’s largest shareholder, with some 40.5 million shares, followed by AstraZeneca subsidiary Zeneca (18.2 million), Hatteras (17.5 million), Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC (13.3 million) and Fletcher Spaght (9 million).
Citigroup Global Markets, Cowen and Company, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company and Needham & Company are the underwriters for the offering, which is set to take place on the Nasdaq Global Market.
