Associate

Suddenly the environment looks better for biotech initial public offerings, and Aderis Pharmaceuticals, which failed to get an IPO through in 2002, has again filed to go public.

While Aderis, of Hopkington, Mass., filed to raise $100 million in early 2002, it estimated in its prospectus it would seek $75 million this time around. The company changed its name from Discovery Therapeutics Inc. in January 2002.

Aderis is seeking the ticker symbol "ADPX." It has four products in development for five indications. Rotigotine-CDS, a dopamine D2 receptor agonist, is a transdermal patch for first-line treatment of early stage and combination therapy for late-stage Parkinson's disease. The drug is partnered with Schwarz Pharma AG, of Monheim, Germany, and is in Phase III trials in the U.S. and Europe. The product also has been formulated as a reduced-dose patch for the treatment of restless legs syndrome. Schwarz Pharma began development of Rotigotine-CDS reduced dose with a pilot Phase II trial in late 2001 in Europe.

MRE-470 is an adenosine A2A agonist being developed as an alternative to exercise stress testing in combination with coronary artery flow imaging for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. King Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bristol, Tenn., has the exclusive worldwide rights to MRE-470, which is in Phase II trials.

DTI-0009 is an adenosine A1 agonist designed to control heart rate in atrial fibrillation by slowing conduction through the atrioventricular node. It is being developed as both an oral formulation for chronic therapy and an intravenous formulation for acute therapy. The drug is partnered with Fujisawa Healthcare, of Deerfield, Ill., in the U.S. and Canada for the intravenous formulation. The IV formulation is in Phase II trials.

The largest shareholder in the company is Menlo Park, Calif.-based Sanderling Group and its affiliated entities, which own 17.9 percent, or about 2.6 million shares. Alpharetta, Ga.-based Alliance Technology Ventures and its affiliated entities own about 1.5 million shares, or 10.3 percent.

For the first six months of the year, Aderis posted a net loss of about $5.8 million. It had cash and cash equivalents of about $26.3 million as of June 30.

Those tracking biotech IPOs will note two things: Aderis looks familiar and August has been one hot IPO-filing month. This week alone has seen Aderis, Myogen Inc. and TolerRx Inc. file for offers collectively estimated to raise $225 million. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 28, 2003.)

Aderis' filing in January 2002 was met with resistance. The company set its price range at $12 to $14 about three months after filing and set its number of shares at 5.5 million. About a month after that, it said its pricing status was "day-to-day." In August 2002, it withdrew its IPO, citing market conditions. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 15. 2002.)