Vor Biopharma, a US-based cancer therapy developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Novartis, Johnson & Johnson and PureTech Health, has gone public in a $177m initial public offering.
The company issued 9.83 million shares – increased from 8.8 million – on the Nasdaq Global Select Market priced at $18.00 each, at the top of the IPO’s $16 to $18 range. Its shares closed at $42.83 yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of approximately $1.52bn.
Vor is working on cellular therapies to treat cancer, and will channel $40m of the IPO proceeds into a phase 1/2a clinical trial for a product candidate dubbed VOR33, for a type of haematological malignancy known as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
A further $50m will support development of another candidate, VCAR33, including its progress through a phase 1/2 trial for AML.
RA Capital Management and 5AM Ventures co-led a $42m series A round for Vor in early 2019 that also featured PureTech, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research and Osage University Partners (OUP).
Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and PureTech returned in the company’s $110m series B round in July 2020. It was led by RA Capital and included Alexandria Venture Investments, part of real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, in addition to investment and financial services group Fidelity, 5AM Ventures, OUP and Pagliuca Family Office.
Vor’s largest shareholder is RA Capital, owner of a 22.2% stake diluted from 30.6% pre-IPO, followed by 5AM Ventures (17.2% post-IPO), PureTech (9%) and Fidelity (7.7%).
Goldman Sachs, Evercore ISI, Barclays and Stifel are joint book-running managers for the offering and have the 30-day option to buy more than 1.47 million more shares, potentially increasing its size to over $203m.
