Forma Therapeutics Holdings has filed an amended registration statement on Monday to secure $200 million in an initial public offering of its voting common shares with the US stock market.
The group is developing a drug candidate pipeline for the treatment of various hematologic diseases and cancers. The holdings has partnerships and investment agreements with four major biopharmaceutical companies, and the IPO is priced within the standard range for biopharma IPOs.
The stock is estimated to be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "FMTX." The joint book-running managers are Jefferies, SVB Leerink and Credit Suisse. The company recorded a net loss of $34.8 million in 2019 on $100.6 million in collaborative revenue, after a net income of $5.3 million in 2018 on $164.1 million in collaborative revenues.
As the Renaissance IPO exchange traded fund has risen by 46.5 percent over the past three months, the S&P 500 has rallied 12.2 percent. Established in 2007, Forma Therapeutics has reported $29 million in collaborative sales for the four quarters ended March 31, 2020.
Forma Therapeutics expects to price during the week of June 15, 2020. The group is headed by president and chief executive officer Frank Lee, who has been with the company since last year and was previously in different senior positions at Genentech.
The lead candidate of the business is FT-4202, for the treatment of sickle cell disease. The drug aims to activate kinase-R pyruvate to boost the synthesis of RBC resulting in increased levels of hemoglobin.
At least $142 million has been invested by the firm's investors, including Novartis Bioventures, Cormorant Global, Biomedical Sciences Investment Fund, Lilly Ventures, and Baker Brothers Advisors.
The market for the treatment of sickle cell disease is seen to hit $5.4 billion by 2023, based on on a 2018 market study by Grand View Research. Forma Therapeutics had $110.3 million in cash and $23.6 million in total liabilities as of March 31, this year.
Forma plans to sell 11.76 million common stock voting shares at a midpoint price of $17.00 per share for gross proceeds of around $200 million, excluding the sale of customary underwriter options.
San Diego-headquartered Progenity is offering around 6.67 million shares, which the group expects to unload on the Nasdaq for between $14 and $16 apiece, while Chinese cancer diagnostics firm Genetron Holdings and Royalty Pharma, an acquirer of biopharma royalties based in New York, are also considering to list on Nasdaq sometime this week, Renaissance Capital disclosed.
Biotech IPOs entered the pandemic scene with a strong momentum and aggressiveness and, following a wider pullback in public listings, continued to prove their resilience. Based on a PitchBook data, healthcare companies as a whole accounted for almost 85 percent of venture capital-backed IPOs in the US so far this year.
