The initial public offering (IPO) window may be creaking open for biotech – thanks in part to the new emerging growth company designation included in last year's JOBS Act – but running a publicly listed small biotech requires as much dedication as ever.
Briefing documents released ahead of Wednesday's Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee pointed to some inconsistent data for Breo (fluticasone furoate/vilanterol), the combination inhaled corticosteroid and long-acting beta2 agonist (LABA) from GlaxoSmithKline plc and Theravance Inc.
With regulatory filings expected later this year for antibiotic dalbavancin, Durata Therapeutics Inc. continues to shore up its cash position. A month after inking a $20 million debt facility agreement, the Chicago-based biotech priced a $50 million public offering, selling 7.15 million shares priced at $7 apiece, a slight discount to Thursday's closing price.
Receptos Inc. became the seventh U.S. biotech to file for an initial public offering (IPO) this year, taking advantage of the emerging growth company provision in the Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups Act and aiming to raise as much as $86.3 million to support clinical work in multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and allergic/immune-mediate disorders.
We at BioWorld actually contemplated putting out a zany blog about biotech to commemorate April Fools’ Day – i.e. biotech firm develops drug for childhood cooties, or something equally ridiculous – but, in the end, we decided to pass. And a good thing, too, because we never would have been able to top a spoof press release sent out by antibody firm ImaginAb. The Ingelwood, Calif.-based firm said it was changing its name to “AmaginAb,” because most of the successful firms in biotech have names that start with the letter ‘A” and “we were forced to acknowledge that we might...
Just days after winning a thumbs-up from the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, Biogen Idec Inc.'s much-lauded Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) was approved by the FDA, and analysts have said the drug has a good shot going up against the two oral multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies already on the market.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) player Enanta Pharmaceuticals Inc. priced a $56 million initial public offering (IPO) and received a warm welcome from Wall Street, as its newly listed shares shot up 22.7 percent on its first day of trading.
Swedish firm Active Biotech AB nearly doubled its cash position and brought on board a new investor in a SEK270 million (US$42.6 million) fundraising this week.
More than 240 million surgeries are performed worldwide each year, yet there is no approved product on the market to prevent the dermal scarring that can frequently occur.
The modest reduction in menopause-related vasomotor symptoms (VMS) recorded in three Phase III trials was not sufficient to warrant the side-effect risk associated with gabapentin, according to the FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee, which voted 12-2 Monday to recommend against Depomed Inc.'s Sefelsa (formerly Serada).
