Vera Therapeutics, a US-based immunological disease treatment developer backed by internet technology group Alphabet and pharmaceutical firm Merck Group, floated in a $47.9m initial public offering on Friday.
The company issued just under 4.4 million shares on Nasdaq Global Market priced at $11 per share, below its $14 to $16 initial price range. Shares closed at $11.50 on the first day of trading.
The company had initially filed to raise $86.3m from the offering.
Vera is focused on developing treatments for patients with immunological and inflammatory diseases. Its lead asset, atacicept, was licensed from Merck and is designed to block the production of antibodies that are known to cause a number of autoimmune diseases.
Proceeds will support phase 2b trials of atacicept in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), a kidney disease triggered by the accumulation of the antibody immunoglobulin in the body.
The funding will also allow Vera to initiate a phase 2b or phase 3 trial for atacicept in patients with lupus nephritis.
Life sciences investment firm Abingworth led an $80m series C round for Vera in January 2021 that also featured Alphabet’s GV unit and Alexandria Venture Investments, an investment subsidiary of life science real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Sofinnova Investments, Octagon Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Longitude Capital and Surveyor Capital also backed the series C round.
Vera received a $34m capital injection from GV and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the predecessor of Kleiner Perkins, when it was spun out of Yale University as Trucode Gene Repair in September 2019.
Abingworth, Sofinnova Investments, Longitude Capital and Fidelity have had their stakes in the business diluted to 10.8% each through the IPO.
Vera’s other notable shareholders include Merck’s Ares Trading subsidiary, which now owns a 9.4% stake, Citadel (5.7%), Kleiner Perkins (6.6%) and GV (4.7%).
Jefferies, Cowen and Evercore are acting as the underwriters for the offering, and have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 652,500 shares.