Medical device maker PHC Holdings Corp. listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange recently, raising around ¥20 billion (US$175 million). The listing was touted as the biggest IPO in Japan since 2018 but crashed spectacularly. The Tokyo-based company listed on the bourse’s First Section, and saw its shares slide 18% to ¥2,651 per share in their debut on Oct. 14. They were up 1.28% to ¥2,685 at the close of trade on Oct. 21. The 460 million shares that were issued priced at the bottom of a ¥3,250 to ¥3,500 range.
Prospects for Zerigo Health Inc. brightened with a series B fundraising round that brought in $43 million to support expansion of the company’s at-home ultraviolet B phototherapy system for chronic skin conditions. The connected system enables a physician to ensure the prescribed dose is delivered while freeing patients from the thrice-weekly office visits often required for treatment of psoriasis, vitiligo and eczema.
There’s a whole group of biotechs trying to create a tougher next-generation CAR T-cell therapy that could have a powerful effect on solid tumors after the technology’s first successes in blood cancer. One of those is London-based Leucid Bio Ltd., which has just raised £11.5 million (nearly US$16 million) in series A financing to develop next-generation CAR T therapies that are able to make it through to solid tumors and attack them.
Microtech Medical (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd. raised around HK$1.98 billion (US$254.53 million) via its listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, becoming the latest in a flood of med-tech companies listing in the city.
Cerecin Inc. has raised $40 million in an oversubscribed round of financing, paving the way for a potential listing in South Korea. Proceeds of the financing will fund the expansion of the company’s current studies and support the planning and initiation of a global phase III study of its lead candidate, tricaprilin, in Alzheimer’s disease.
X-trodes Ltd. has raised $4.5 million to develop its portfolio of wearable smart technologies that measure and analyze electrophysiological signals. Tel Aviv-based X-trodes is developing two products – a wireless system “Smart Skin” for sleep monitoring and a wearable system to prevent muscle injuries and accelerate recovery. The core technology is based on an intellectual property (IP) developed in the nanotechnology laboratory of Tel Aviv University.