Gyroscope Therapeutics, the UK-headquartered gene therapy developer co-founded by University of Cambridge and Syncona, postponed its initial public offering on Friday.
Founded in 2016, Gyroscope has a gene therapy known as GT005 which is currently in phase 2 clinical trials for geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition which can cause blindness.
The company had filed last month to raise up to $100m in an IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market and had set a range of $20 to $22 for 6.75 million American depositary shares last week which would have netted it nearly $149m at the top of the range, before pulling back.
Khurem Farooq, Gyroscope’s CEO, said: “Based on the positive feedback we have received from institutional investors on the strength of our science and investigational gene therapies, we believe it is in the best interest of our existing shareholders and employees to execute our IPO in more favourable market conditions.
“In the meantime, we are continuing to advance our clinical programme for our investigational gene therapy, GT005, as well as our earlier stage pipeline.”
Life sciences investment firm Syncona and launched the company with tech transfer office Cambridge Enterprise and led a $61.2m series B round in 2019 that included Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC.
Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) participated in a $148m series C round two months ago together with Syncona, lead investor conglomerate Fosun subsidiary Fosun Pharma, Sofinnova Investments, Tetragon Financial Group and an undisclosed healthcare fund.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup had been appointed joint book-running managers for the offering.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.

Gyroscope Therapeutics, the UK-headquartered gene therapy developer backed by conglomerate Fosun, postponed its initial public offering on Friday.

Founded in 2016, Gyroscope has a gene therapy known as GT005 which is currently in phase 2 clinical trials for geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition which can cause blindness.

The company had filed last month to raise up to $100m in an IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market and had set a range of $20 to $22 for 6.75 million American depositary shares last week which would have netted it nearly $149m at the top of the range, before pulling back.

Khurem Farooq, Gyroscope’s CEO, said: “Based on the positive feedback we have received from institutional investors on the strength of our science and investigational gene therapies, we believe it is in the best interest of our existing shareholders and employees to execute our IPO in more favourable market conditions.

“In the meantime, we are continuing to advance our clinical programme for our investigational gene therapy, GT005, as well as our earlier stage pipeline.”

Life sciences investment firm Syncona and launched the company with tech transfer office Cambridge Enterprise and led a $61.2m series B round in 2019 that included Singaporean sovereign wealth fund CIC.

Fosun subsidiary Fosun Pharma took part in Gyroscope’s $148m series C round in March this year along with Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund, which led the round, Syncona, Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), Sofinnova Investments, Tetragon Financial Group and an undisclosed healthcare fund.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup had been appointed joint book-running managers for the offering.