Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. has become the latest biotech to go public in a rush driven by surging financial markets. The South San Francisco-based company has become the 12th biotech in the 2013 IPO class, and another dozen are filed and pending, signaling a definitive end to the long wait for markets to regain avid interest in new biotech opportunities following the market crash of 2008.
Portola priced 8,422,758 shares of common stock at $14.50 per share, with a 30-day option for underwriters to purchase an additional 1,263,413 shares to cover overallotments. The funds will support Portola's pipeline of drugs for thrombosis, hematologic disorders and inflammation.
The price fell squarely within the company's planned range of $13 to $16 per share. Its stock will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol PTLA. The stock closed at $15.15 Wednesday, up 65 cents over its opening price.
Its once-daily Factor Xa inhibitor, betrixaban, is in
