Amicus Therapeutics Inc., which withdrew plans to go public last year due to unfavorable market conditions, successfully priced its initial public offering of 5 million shares at $15 each.

That price is the midpoint of the $14 to $16 range set earlier this year, and the IPO brings in gross proceeds of $75 million to fund ongoing clinical development of its three lead programs attacking rare genetic diseases. Net proceeds, according to the company's prospectus, will be about $67.9 million, or $78.3 million if underwriters exercise their full overallotment option to purchase an additional 750,000 shares. About $60 million of that is expected to be split evenly between its three lead programs - Amigal, Plicera and AT2220 - with remaining funds going toward research and development and preclinical activities, along with working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Founded in 2002, Cranbury, N.J.-based Amicus had hoped to make its public debut last year. It filed for an $86 million IPO in May 2006, but like several other biotechs last year, opted to forgo the offering rather than risk pricing its shares lower than expected. Instead, the company sought another private round and ended up raising $60 million in a Series D in September to support operations. (See BioWorld Today, May 18, 2006, and Sept. 15, 2006.)

Money from the IPO, along with existing cash resources, is expected to move Amigal through Phase III trials in Fabry's disease, start Phase III development of Plicera in Gaucher's disease and finish up Phase II development of AT2220 in Pompe disease. Amicus, which reported a net loss of $46.3 million for 2006, ended the year with about $79.1 million in cash.

The company develops small-molecule pharmacological chaperones to target misfolded proteins, and its initial focus is on chronic genetic diseases known as lysosomal disorders. Existing therapy for disorders such as Fabry's, Gaucher's and Pompe diseases involves enzyme replacement therapy, and the chief player in that market is Cambridge, Mass.-based Genzyme Corp., which markets Fabrazyme, Cerezyme and Myozyme. But rather than replacing the enzymes, Amicus' approach is aimed at restoring enzyme function by creating molecules that bind to proteins in cells and fold them into their correct functional shapes.

Amicus holds worldwide rights to all three products. Its plan is to build a commercial and sales team to handle at least some, if not all, of the marketing.

Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. acted as joint bookrunners for the IPO, with J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Lazard Capital Markets LLC and Pacific Growth Equities LLC serving as co-managers. Following the offering, expected to close on or about June 5, Amicus will have 22.2 million shares outstanding.

On its first day of trading Thursday, shares of Amicus (NASDAQ:FOLD) traded as high as $16.80 before closing at $14.43, down 57 cents.