Trevi Therapeutics, a US-based pruritus treatment developer backed by pharmaceutical firm Lundbeck, has floated in a $55m initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market.
The company issued 5.5 million shares priced at $10 each, a drop from the IPO’s $14 to $16 range, and they closed at $8.27 on Friday. Venture capital firm and existing backer New Enterprise Associates (NEA) bought another $15m of shares in a private placement.
Founded in 2011, Trevi is developing an oral therapy which is intended to treat a severe form of itching known as pruritus in addition to chronic coughing caused by neurologically mediated conditions.
A portion of the IPO proceeds will be used to fund an ongoing phase 1b clinical trial for the company’s lead candidate, Nalbuphine ER, which is intended to treat patients with pruritus caused by chronic liver disease.
In addition to funding a phase 2/3b trial for Nalbuphine ER with a form of pruritus called prurigo nodularis, the IPO proceeds will support phase 2 clinical trials addressing involuntary movements that can afflict Parkinson’s disease patients and chronic coughs caused by progressive scarring of the lungs.
The company had secured $50.5m in a mid-2017 series C round led by NEA that also featured Lundbeckfonden Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Lundbeck, as well as Omega Funds, Aperture Venture Partners and private equity group TPG’s life sciences arm, TPG Biotech.
TPG had initially supplied a total of $26m for Trevi’s 2014 series B round, having contributed to its $10m series A in 2012. The company also secured a $15m debt facility from Solar Capital and Square 1 Bank in 2015.
Trevi’s largest shareholder is TPG, the owner of a 32.3% stake diluted from 53.3%, while Lundbeckfonden’s 7.2% stake was cut to 4.3% according to the filing. NEA holds a 27.7% stake after the IPO and private placement, and Omega Funds 4.4%.
Joint book-running managers SVB Leerink, Stifel and BMO Capital Markets and lead manager Needham & Company have the option to purchase an additional 825,000 shares, which would increase the size of the offering to approximately $63.3m.