Rapt Therapeutics, a US-based small molecule drug developer backed by internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet and pharmaceutical firm Celgene, decided on Friday to postpone its initial public offering.
The company set its price range at $14 to $16 less than two weeks ago and hoped to issue 5 million shares on the Nasdaq Global Market to raise between $70m and $80m.
Rapt is working on small molecule drugs that it hopes will boost a patient’s immune response to cancer and inflammatory conditions.
The company was founded in 2015 as FLX Bio following the acquisition of its predecessor company, Flexus Biosciences, by biopharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb for $1.25bn. It rebranded to its current name in May 2019.
The most recent funding raised by Rapt was a $97m series C round closed in June 2019 with a $37m extension. Both that and the $60m first tranche in 2017 were backed by Alphabet’s GV unit, Celgene, T. Rowe Price Associates, Column Group, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Topspin Partners.
Celgene, Column Group, Topspin and KPCB contributed to the company’s $50m series B round in 2016. Rapt revealed in its prospectus that the Regents of the University of California were also among the series B investors, as were the Wong Family and Rieflin Family trusts. It had raised a $29m series A round but has not disclosed further details.
The company had hoped to use proceeds from the offering to fund a phase 1/2 trial for FLX475, which targets multiple cancers, and to move an atopic dermatitis drug candidate known as RPT193 beyond its current phase 1 stage. It also hopes to advance a range of other drug candidates.
Neither Alphabet nor Celgene own a stake in Rapt sized at more than 5%. Column Group is its largest shareholder, with a 34.7% stake, followed by Kleiner Perkins (20%), Topspin (12.2%) and Regents of the University of California (7.6%).
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Securities, BMO Capital Markets and UBS Investment Bank were set to be the joint book-running managers.
