After raising HKD$320 million (US$40.8 million) in its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week, Immuneonco Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s stock has continued to rise, and analysts are expecting the Hong Kong market to pick up after a slack start to the year.
South Korean CAR T developer Curocell Inc. said on Sept. 8 that it passed a preliminary screening to list on Kosdaq – news that comes four months after its application was made to the Korea exchange on May 2, 2023, and a year after its first failed application in January 2022.
On Aug. 3, Sunho Biologics Inc. filed to list on the Hong Kong Exchange, armed with its antibody and immunocytokine drug pipeline and post-investment valuation of ¥1.41 billion (US$196 million).
Hangzhou and New Jersey-based cancer biotech Adlai Nortye Ltd. – formerly Hangzhou Nuotai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. – announced plans to list on Nasdaq with its U.S. IPO filed on July 27.
Pursuing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), Turnstone Biologics Inc. raised about $80 million in an IPO, offering 6.7 million shares at $12 each. The firm is “pioneering a differentiated approach to TILs,” with next-generation products designed by choosing the most potent and tumor-reactive T cells, dubbed Selected TILs, according to SEC paperwork.
Two biopharma companies entered the public markets on July 14, with Apogee Therapeutics Inc. pricing a $300 million IPO, the second largest U.S. debut this year, and Sagimet Biosciences Inc. raising $85 million. Apogee, of San Francisco, and Waltham, Mass., is advancing APG-777 and APG-808, which are in development for atopic dermatitis (AD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, while San Mateo, Calif.-based Sagimet’s lead candidate is the FASN inhibitor denifanstat for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. raised HK$1.36 billion (US$174 million) in an IPO in Hong Kong to support its push into the increasingly competitive antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) market in China.
Although biopharma investors pulled back in 2022 – largely a response to freely flowing funds the previous two years during COVID-19 surges – they are cautiously returning to the sector, as the industry has raised $32.8 billion in the first half of 2023, a 23.6% jump over the same period last year.
Having raised HK$791 million (US$101 million) through an IPO in Hong Kong, Laekna Inc., which develops therapies for cancer and liver fibrosis, now plans to focus on further developing its two lead products in-licensed from Novartis and push its pipeline of 14 products forward.
Edding Group Co. Ltd. announced June 23 it filed for an IPO on the Hong Kong Exchange – news that comes amid a steep drop in China’s biopharma IPO market forecasting sluggish activity in a near-frozen “capital winter.”