Ann Arbor, Mich.-based startup Endra Life Sciences Inc. started out focused on a photoacoustic imaging tool for mice in the lab, but in recent years it has shifted gears. Now, it aims to secure the go-ahead next year from European and U.S. regulators to launch a thermo-acoustic enhanced ultrasound system designed to quantitatively assess liver fat, known as TAEUS.
With a 349% increase in stock price since its June debut on U.S. markets, Boston-based Karuna Therapeutics Inc. secures the title of best IPO performer so far in 2019. The stock skyrocketed in November following positive top-line phase II data of Karxt in acute psychosis in patients with schizophrenia, providing a potential read-through to larger indications such as Alzheimer’s disease and pain.
A total of 18 med-tech companies that have gone public on U.S. exchanges this year are showing a positive percentage change in stock value on average of 43%, despite large price drops for Personalis Inc. and Guardion Health Sciences Inc.
BEIJING – After Suzhou, China-based Ascentage Pharma Group International launched a $53 million IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) last week, Tot Biopharm International Co. Ltd., also from Suzhou, and Sinomab Bioscience Ltd., of Hong Kong, will also debut on the bourse to reap as much as $87 million and $223.1 million, respectively, in the following two weeks.
Washington-based life sciences conglomerate Danaher Corp. has executed a long-anticipated spinout for its dental products business Envista Holdings Corp. via a $589 million IPO. Based in Brea, Calif., the company priced a bit below the middle of the anticipated share price range at $22 and sold 26.8 million shares, as it had planned.
HONG KONG & BEIJING – Chinese biosimilar make Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. is ready to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on its second try. The firm plans to issue 64.7 million shares globally under the stock code 2696. The maximum offer price is HK$57.8 per share, which means the biosimilar maker could raise as much as HK$3.74 billion (US$477 million).
Pleasanton, Calif.-based 10x Genomics Inc. priced its initial public offering to raise $390 million and then immediately climbed in the first hours of trading. The single-cell sequencing company had upwardly revised its share price range twice – and then priced above the latest one at $39 per share, heading to above $55 (NASDAQ:TXG) in its first few hours as a public company. That gave it a market cap of about $5.1 billion. 10x Genomics also took advantage of its momentum by boosting the number of shares to 10 million from the anticipated 9 million.
HONG KONG & BEIJING – Chinese biosimilar maker Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. is ready to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on its second try. The firm plans to issue 64.7 million shares globally under the stock code 2696. The maximum offer price is HK$57.8 per share, which means the biosimilar maker could raise as much as HK$3.74 billion (US$477 million).
Although investor sentiment continues to remain low and unlikely to change for the remainder of the year, it seems that fact has fallen on deaf ears of those companies looking to graduate to the public ranks. Already in the first few days of September, five biopharma companies have added themselves to the IPO runway, bringing the number of pending U.S. offerings to 12, according to BioWorld.