PTC Therapeutics Inc. made last week a biotech trifecta for initial public offerings (IPO), filing an S-1 with the SEC seeking to raise up to $85 million. Earlier, gene therapy firm bluebird bio Inc. and Esperion Therapeutics Inc., a company working on a drug to lower LDL-cholesterol, joined the IPO queue.
PTC, which filed as an emerging growth company under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, plans to list its common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "PTCT." The company did not disclose the number of shares or price range in the offering.
South Plainfield, N.J.-based PTC is focused mainly on genetic disorders but also has preclinical and discovery-stage assets in oncology and infectious diseases. In its filing, the company said it plans to use proceeds from the IPO to fund the clinical development of lead candidate ataluren (formerly PTC124) in Duchenne's muscular dystrophy caused by nonsense