Rallybio, a US-based rare disease therapy developer backed by conglomerate Mitsui and real estate developer Nan Fung, has filed for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market.
Founded in 2018, Rallybio is developing drugs for severe and rare disorders. Its lead product candidate, RLYB211, is designed to prevent maternal alloimmunisation, a condition in which a foetus’s antigens are attacked by its mother’s immune system as foreign substances.
The company has set a $100m placeholder target for the offering and has signed up Jefferies, Cowen and Evercore ISI as underwriters. It will use the proceeds of the offering and $128m cash on hand from its equity funding to complete the phase 1 and 2 trials for RLYB211 and advance work on other candidates.
Pivotal BioVenture Partners, a healthcare investment vehicle formed by Nan Fung, led a $145m series B round for Rallybio in May 2020, and was joined by investors including Mitsui and investment and financial services group Fidelity, the last two through Mitsui & Co Global Investment and F-Prime Capital respectively.
The 2020 round was filled out by Viking Global Investors, Solasta Ventures, The Rise Fund, Fairview Capital, 5AM Ventures, Canaan Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, Connecticut Innovations and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management.
5AM Ventures, Canaan and New Leaf had co-led a $37m series A round for the company shortly after it was founded, investing alongside Connecticut Innovations.
