Seres Therapeutics, a US-based biotechnology company backed by nutritional health product manufacturer Nestlé Health Science, filed for an initial public offering on Nasdaq on Wednesday that could raise up to $100m.
Seres is working on a cure for clostridium difficile, a form of bacterial bowl infection that affects patients with a weakened immune system. In the US alone, the infection proves fatal for some 14,000 people each year.
The company, which previously operated as Seres Health, has raised $133.5m in funding altogether. Nestlé Health Science invested $65m in Seres in January 2015, only a month after undisclosed backers provided $48m for Seres’ series C round.
Healthcare researcher Mayo Clinic, Enso Ventures and Flagship Ventures funded the company’s $10m series B round in June 2014, after Flagship had provided $10.5m in series A capital in 2013.
Seres intends to use the proceeds from the offering to complete a Phase 2 clinical trial for its lead clostridium difficile drug candidate. It will also advance development of several other drug candidates and file an investigational new drug application for at least one of those candidates.
Flagship is currently Seres’ largest shareholder, holding a 54.7% stake, while Nestlé Health Science owns an 18.3% share. Financial services provider Fidelity Management and Research holds 8.1% and Enso Ventures 5.9%.
Seres originally filed confidentially for an initial public offering in December 2014.
Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the IPO, while Leerink Partners and Canaccord Genuity are serving as book-running managers.