Repare Therapeutics, a Canada-based precision cancer therapy developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Celgene, will float today in a $220m initial public offering in the US.
The company is issuing 11 million shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, having increased that number from 10 million. It priced them at the top of the IPO’s $18 to $20 range. The IPO prices values it at about $700m.
Founded in 2016, Repare is developing targeted cancer drugs based on the concept of synthetic lethality, where genomic instabilities in two separate cells results in both dying.
Repare will put $50m of the IPO proceeds into advancing its lead product candidate, RP-3500, which is targeted at solid tumours, through a planned phase 1/2 clinical trial set to begin later this year. Another $110m has been earmarked for additional research and development activities.
The offering comes in the wake of approximately $165m in funding, including $15m provided by BMS as part of a research collaboration deal agreed last month.
Cowen Healthcare Investments led the company’s $82.5m series B round in September 2019, which included founding Repare investor Versant Ventures, MPM Capital, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, BDC Capital, OrbiMed, Redmile Group, BVF Partners and Logos Capital.
Repare had emerged from stealth in 2017 with $68m in series A funding from Celgene affiliate Celgene Switzerland, Versant Ventures, MPM Capital, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, financial services firm UBS’s Oncology Impact Fund and BDC Capital’s Healthcare Venture Fund.
The company’s notable investors are Versant, which will come out with a 20% stake post-IPO, MPM Capital (7.9%), OrbiMed (7.4%), the MPM-managed UBS Oncology Impact Fund (6.1%), Cowen (5.4%), Fonds de solidarité FTQ (5%) and Redmile (4.5%).
Joint book-running managers Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Cowen and Piper Sandler have the 30-day option to buy a further 1.65 million shares which could potentially increase the size of the offering to $253m.
