Pennsylvania spinout Apellis Pharmaceuticals has floated on the Nasdaq Global Select Market after raising $150m in its initial public offering.
Apellis Pharmaceuticals, a US-based biopharmaceutical spinout from University of Pennsylvania that is working on treatments for currently incurable conditions, has completed a $150m initial public offering.
The spinout has floated on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Shares traded at 13.93 as of yesterday’s close, giving Apellis a market cap of just over $686m.
Founded in 2009, Apellis Pharmaceuticals is developing immunotherapies for a wide range of autoimmune diseases that currently have no cure.
Its lead drug candidate, APL-2, is currently undergoing phase 1b clinical trials for paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria, a rare, life-threatening disease that destroys red blood cells, causes blood clots and impairs bone marrow function.
The product candidate is also in a phase 2 clinical trial for geographic atrophy, an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration, an eye disease that leads to blurred or reduced central vision.
Proceeds from the IPO will be used to fund these ongoing clinical trials, support future trials for APL-2 and develop additional product candidates.
Apellis most recently closed a $60m series E round in August 2017 led by Sectoral Asset Management, with participation from Sofinnova, Vivo Capital, F-Prime Capital Partners, investment funds advised by Clough Capital Partners, VenBio Select, Morningside Ventures, Cormorant Asset Management, VenBio Global Strategic Fund and Epidarex Capital.
Cormorant Asset Management, Hillhouse Capital Group and VenBio Global Strategic Fund previously co-led a $47.1m series D round in February 2016 that included Morningside Venture Investments, AJU IB Investment and Epidarex Capital.
Epidarex, and AJU IB also contributed to a $33m series C round that was led by Morningside and raised over three tranches. The series C round closed in late 2014, following a $7m series B round in 2012 and a $2.7m series A round in 2010, according to regulatory filings.
Morningside is the spinout’s largest shareholder, with a 28% stake that has been reduced to 21.9% following the offering. Potentia Holdings, a vehicle for certain management and board members of Apellis, owned 9.9%, reduced to 7.8%, while VenBio Global Strategic Fund saw its shareholding drop from 9% to 7%.
Other notable shareholders include Cormorant (from 6.2% to 4.9%), AJU (from 5.9% to 4.7%) and Hillhouse (from 5.4% to 4.3%).
Citigroup Global Markets, JP Morgan Securities and Evercore Group acted as underwriters for the offering. They have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 10.7 million shares.
