Associate Managing Editor

If the public markets are indeed ready to support biotech initial public offerings - and many believe they are - companies with public aspirations might do well to take note of the main quality boasted by those that have filed in 2003's second half, including the most recent, Eyetech Pharmaceuticals Inc.

They boast clinical products. Genitope Corp., TolerRx Inc., Myogen Inc. and CancerVax Corp. are just a few of the companies with products in development that have filed for IPOs since the summer's first company, Acusphere Inc., stuck its toe in the waters July 1. Eyetech is on that list now, as it filed Friday to raise $100 million. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 22, 2003, and Aug. 28, 2003.)

However, filing an initial public offering and pricing it are two different matters, as Aderis Pharmaceuticals Inc. can testify to, having filed for an IPO in January 2002 and failing to get it through, eventually pulling the offer in August 2002. Back in the IPO queue now, Aderis (and others) hope today's markets are more receptive. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 29, 2003.)

New York-based Eyetech already has made a name for itself and its lead drug, Macugen, through its potential $750 million deal with Pfizer Inc., also of New York. Signed in December, the deal earned Eyetech $100 million up front, and the company will aim for up to about $645 million in milestone payments. In the U.S., the companies would co-promote the product while Pfizer would sell it outside the States and Eyetech would earn royalties. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 19, 2002.)

Macugen (pegaptanib sodium), an aptamer designed to selectively bind to and neutralize vascular endothelial growth factor, is in development for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME), both of which can cause blindness. Eyetech in March 2000 licensed the Macugen technology from Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., and its wholly owned subsidiary, NeXstar Pharmaceuticals Inc., in an exclusive, worldwide deal valued at $32 million.

The company said in its prospectus it is conducting one Phase II/III pivotal trial in wet AMD in North America and one mainly outside North America, with 578 patients enrolled in the North American trial and 612 in the international trial. It also is conducting a Phase II trial of Macugen in DME.

The company is investigating Macugen for several other indications, both ophthalmic and others, including psoriasis and cancer.

In its prospectus, the company said Pfizer made a $25 million equity investment as part of the $100 million up-front fee, and is obligated to purchase up to an additional $25 million of stock in "specified circumstances, including $10 million of our common stock concurrently with the completion" of the IPO.

Pfizer has a 9.8 percent stake in Eyetech before the offering, ranking it below JP Morgan Partners LP, of New York, with 14.8 percent; Schroder Ventures Entities, of Hamilton, Bermuda, with 12.9 percent; and Biotech Growth NV, of Cambridge, Mass., with 11.9 percent.

Eyetech had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $137.5 million as of June 30. Its net loss attributable to common stockholders was $18.9 million for the first six months of the year. It raised $108.5 million in a two-tranche Series C financing, the second portion coming in August 2002, and had raised $50 million in two rounds prior to the Series C. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 8, 2002.)

Underwriters for the offering are Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc., Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. and CS First Boston Corp., all of New York. The company has proposed the Nasdaq ticker symbol "EYET."