Yale’s immunological and inflammatory disease therapy developer has filed for an offering with an $86.3m placeholder target.
Vera Therapeutics, a US-based immunological and inflammatory disease therapy developer spun out of Yale University, has filed for an $86.3m initial public offering.
Founded in 2016, Vera is developing therapies for the treatment of immunological and inflammatory diseases. Its lead drug candidate, atacicept, blocks the production of antibodies that contribute to certain autoimmune diseases.
Atacicept was licensed from pharmaceutical firm Merck Group and is currently undergoing a 2b clinical trial in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy, a kidney disease caused by the build-up of the antibody immunoglobulin.
The company raised $80m in a January 2021 series C round led by life sciences investment firm Abingworth that included conglomerate Alphabet’s GV unit and Alexandria Venture Investments, the venture capital arm of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Sofinnova Investments, Octagon Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Longitude Capital and Surveyor Capital, a subsidiary of asset management firm Citadel, also took part in the series C round.
Vera was founded as Trucode Gene Repair in September 2019 with $34m of funding supplied by GV and Kleiner Perkins predecessor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Abingworth, Sofinnova Investments, Longitude Capital and Fidelity each own a 13.5% stake in the company. Its other shareholders include Merck’s Ares Trading subsidiary, which holds an 11.8% stake, Citadel (9%), Kleiner Perkins (8.3%) and GV (5.8%).
The offering is set to take place on the Nasdaq Global Market and Jefferies, Cowen and Evercore are the underwriters.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
