Nearly two years after scrapping plans to go public because of unfavorable market conditions, Acorda Therapeutics again filed for an initial public offering, hoping to raise $86.75 million to support the marketing of Zanaflex capsules and the development of its sustained-release multiple sclerosis drug, Fampridine-SR.

The Hawthorne, N.Y.-based company previously filed a registration statement for a $75 million IPO in fall 2003, but withdrew it in January 2004. Since then, much has happened at Acorda.

The company completed an $11.5 million private financing, acquired the rights to Zanaflex from Elan Corp. plc, reported a Phase III miss in Fampridine-SR in patients with spinal cord injuries, and initiated a pivotal program of Fampridine-SR in multiple sclerosis.

Its IPO filing does not list the number of shares to be sold or set a share price range. Acorda is expecting to trade on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "ACOR."

The company was unable to comment due to SEC-imposed quiet period rules, but in its prospectus said that proceeds would fund activities relating to the sale of Zanaflex capsules, launched in April for the treatment of spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury.

Acorda acquired the rights to oral Zanaflex (tizanidine) from Dublin, Ireland-based Elan in July 2004. That deal also included Zanaflex tablets, though that formulation is off patent and faces generic competition. (See BioWorld Today, July 30, 2004.)

Acorda established a 14-person internal specialty sales force and has a 160-member contract sales force to push Zanaflex capsules. That marketing infrastructure is expected to cover the same area needed for Fampridine-SR.

Also licensed from Elan, Fampridine-SR (4-aminopyridine) is in a 240-patient Phase III trial designed to evaluate walking ability in MS patients. In lab studies, the drug's active molecule, fampridine, demonstrated the ability to improve impulse conduction in nerve fibers in which myelin has been damaged. The FDA approved a special protocol assessment for the trial earlier this year. (See BioWorld Today, May 5, 2005.)

The company owns worldwide development and marketing rights to the drug, and plans to commercialize Fampridine-SR itself in the U.S. and Canada, while seeking to partner the product outside North America.

While moving forward in MS, Acorda also plans to review results from the Phase III program of Fampridine-SR in spinal cord injury patients. In April 2004, the company reported that the drug missed its endpoints in two pivotal trials, failing to show significantly reduced spasticity, as measured by the Ashworth score and an improvement of patients' Subject Global Impression rating. After analyzing data from those trials, the company might consider testing the product again in spinal cord injury. (See BioWorld Today, April, 15, 2004.)

Proceeds from the IPO also would go toward the company's preclinical pipeline focusing on central nervous system disorders. The first, a chondroitinase enzyme, is based on breaking down the matrix of scar tissue that develops as a result of an injury. Animal studies have shown that the application of chondroitinase results in the recovery of function following injuries to areas of the brain or spinal cord.

The company also has a program using GGF-2, a neuregulin growth factor, to stimulate remyelination. A third program focuses on remyelinating antibodies to treat MS.

Since its incorporation in 1995, Acorda has raised a total of $140.5 million, nearly all of that coming from venture capital investors. For the first six months of 2005, the company reported a net loss of $18.5 million. As of June 30, it had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $14.7 million.

New York-based Banc of America Securities LLC is serving as an underwriter for the offering, along with Lazard Capital Markets, Piper Jaffray & Co., and SG Cowen & Co., all of New York.