Sutro Biopharma, a US-based cancer drug developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Amgen, Celgene, Eli Lilly and Merck & Co, filed for a $75m initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market on Wednesday.
Founded in 2003 as Fundamental Applied Biology, Sutro Biopharma is creating immuno-onology treatments, antibody drug conjugates and bispecific antibodies aimed at cancer and autoimmune diseases.
The company’s drug discovery platform, XpressCF, is based on research by founder James Swartz, the James H. Clark professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University.
Sutro’s two lead candidates are STRO-001, a treatment for lymphoma and multiple myeloma, and STRO-002, a therapy for ovarian and endometrial cancer. Proceeds from the initial public offering will fund the further clinical development of these two therapies.
Money will also go towards the further development of XpressCF and additional product candidates.
Sutro closed an $84.5m series E round backed by Amgen Ventures and Lilly Ventures, respective investment vehicles of Amgen and Celgene, as well as Merck & Co and Eli Lilly a month ago.
The round was co-led by investment firm Samsara BioCapital and Surveyor Capital, a subsidiary of asset manager Citadel, and featured Skyline Ventures, SV Health Investors, Eventide, Nexthera Capital, Vida Ventures and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management. Merck’s investment included a commitment to future funding.
Amgen Ventures, Lilly Ventures and Celgene took part in a $26m series D round for Sutro in 2013 alongside Alta Partners, Skyline Ventures and SV Life Sciences. The same investors, minus Celgene, had already supported a $36.5m series C in 2010.
Merck & Co retains a 12.5% shareholding and Celgene owns a 10.5% stake in Sutro, while Lilly Ventures holds 9.4%. Other major shareholders include Alta Partners and Skyline (11.9% each), SV Health (11.1%), Citadel (6.3%), Samsara BioCapital and Vida Ventures (5.6% each).
Cowen and Company and Piper Jaffray are acting as representatives of the underwriters, which also include JMP Securities and Wedbush Securities.