Pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly is in line for an exit from US-based liver disease drug developer Terns Pharmaceuticals, which has filed for a $100m initial public offering.
Terns is working on small-molecule drugs to treat chronic liver diseases including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Part of the IPO proceeds will support the completion of a phase 2a clinical trial for its lead product candidate, TERN-101, in NASH.
Additional proceeds will go to a phase 1 trial for a second candidate, TERN-501, as a monotherapy, and a phase 2a trial for it in combination with TERN-101. Terns also plans to finish a phase 1b trial for a third candidate, TERN-201.
The company has received more than $207m in funding pre-IPO, having closed its series C round at $97.7m earlier this month, according to a regulatory filing.
Healthcare investment firm Deerfield Management led the round, which also featured Eli Lilly, its Lilly Asia Ventures unit, OrbiMed, Vivo Capital, Samsara Capital, Suvretta Capital Management and unnamed others.
Lilly Asia Ventures provided Terns with $30m in series A funding in 2017 launch and committed $20m to the $80m series B round co-led by Vivo Capital and OrbiMed and backed by Decheng Capital that closed the following year.
Terns’ largest shareholder is Lilly Asia Ventures, which owns 37.5% of its shares, followed by OrbiMed (20.1%), Vivo Capital (13.3%) and Deerfield (10.4%).
JP Morgan Securities, Goldman Sachs and Cowen and Company are joint book-running managers for the IPO, which is slated to take place on the Nasdaq Global Market.
