Biotech remains one of the busiest sectors of the IPO market.
Dreamstime
A trio of biotechs went public Friday, but only one rose above its offer price.
Cognition Therapeutics was up double digits in afternoon trading. The other two companies, Pyxis Oncology and IsoPlexis Corp, fell below their offer prices. All opened on the Nasdaq.
Another biotech, AEON Biopharma, was also expected to make its debut but has postponed its offering, according to Renaissance Capital. AEON didn’t return requests for comment.
So far this year, 776 companies have gone public, raising $248.9 billion as of Friday, Dealogic said. Last year, 289 companies listed their shares, collecting $111.3 billion. Roughly 40% of this year’s crop of companies—316—were traditional IPOs that raised $118.7 billion. The rest were special-purpose acquisition companies.
Biotech remains one of the busiest sectors of the IPO market. The total so far this year is 83 biotechs, which were valued at about $14.8 billion.
Shares of Cognition Therapeutics (CGTX) opened at $12.15 and hit a high of $13.80. The stock closed at $12.77, up more than 6% from its IPO price.
Cognition raised $45.2 million after selling an upsized 3.8 million shares at $12, the middle of its expected range. The Purchase, New York, company had filed to offer 3.35 million shares at $11 to $13. B. Riley Securities and Oppenheimer & Co are underwriters on the deal.
Cognition is developing small molecule therapeutics that target age-related degenerative diseases and disorders of the central nervous system and retina. Its lead product candidate, CT1812, treats Alzheimer’s disease and is in Phase 2 development, a prospectus said.
IsoPlexis (ISO) kicked off $14.75, peaked at $14.80 and ended at $11.52, down 23% from its IPO price. This technically makes IsoPlexis a broken deal.
The dismal debut came after IsoPlexis collected $125 million. The Branford, Connecticut, company sold 8.3 million shares at $15, the midpoint of its $14-to-$16 range. Morgan Stanley , Cowen, Evercore ISI, and SVB Leerink are underwriters on the deal.
IsoPlexis provides a single-cell proteomics platform that is used to develop applications for cancer immunology, and cell and gene therapy, a prospectus said. The company is expanding the platform’s capabilities to target infectious diseases, inflammatory conditions, and neurological diseases.
Pyxis Oncology (PYXS), which is backed by Pfizer (PFE), also dropped below its IPO price. Shares opened at its high of $19 and dropped to a low of $13.09. The stock closed at $13.20, off nearly 18% from its offer price.
Pyxis initially filed to offer 8.34 million shares at $14 to $16, which it boosted to 9.5 million on Thursday. The biotech increased the size of its deal again, selling 10.5 million shares at $16 each, according to a statement. BofA Securities, Jefferies, Credit Suisse and William Blair are underwriters on the deal.
Launched in 2019, Pyxis is developing therapeutics to target difficult-to-treat cancers. The company has licensed two antibody drug conjugates from Pfizer, PYX-201 and PYX-203, and another ADC, PYX-202, from LegoChem.
PYX-201 targets non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer and other solid tumors, while PYX-202 focuses on small- cell lung cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. PYX-203 is used for acute myeloid leukemia.
Pyxis plans to submit investigational new drug applications for PYX-201 and PYX-202 by mid-2022. The biotech expects to put in an investigational new drug application for PYX-203 by 2023, the prospectus said.
Pfizer and Bayer (BAYN) will each have about 9% of Pyxis voting stock after the IPO, the filing said.
Write to Luisa Beltran at [email protected]
