The year 2024 squeaked through another IPO this week, that of Actuate Therapeutics Inc., which raised $22.4 million becoming the 15th biopharma company to debut on U.S. exchanges this year. Out of 17 companies total, including one listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and another on the SIX Swiss Exchange, the industry has raised a total of $4.8 billion through IPOs.
New U.S. SEC rules designed to reel back the special purpose acquisition (SPAC) market went into effect on July 1, yet only a few weeks later two such companies completed IPOs and are now targeting mergers with health care and life sciences firms, including biopharma and medical technology.
In a 5-4 decision June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court scuttled a Purdue Pharma LP’s bankruptcy plan that would have discharged any claims against the Sackler family, which owned and controlled the company that made billions of dollars from its sales of Oxycontin (oxycodone).
Suzhou, China-headquartered Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Ltd. has filed plans for a confidential IPO to the U.S. SEC for a potential dual listing on both the U.S. and Hong Kong stock exchanges. News of the U.S. IPO came just a few days after Ascentage drew a $75 million equity investment from Osaka, Japan-headquartered Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. with the issuance of about 24.3 million shares at a purchase price of HK$24.09 (US$3.08) per share.
The recent conviction of Ontrak Inc. CEO Terren Peizer for insider trading was conspicuous on two counts, including that it was the first time such a conviction had been obtained solely for trading conducted under a government-approved insider trading policy. More worrisome for industry, generally, is the case is another example of federal prosecutors’ ever-growing use of data and analytics to root out violations of SEC law. This is a trend that seems destined to grow with advances in artificial intelligence.
A woman who allegedly made nearly $300,000 last year on insider trading based on undisclosed information about a pending biopharma acquisition will have to disgorge her profits, along with interest, to the U.S. Treasury, but she will face no other penalties.
Three people have agreed to pay more than $170,000 to settle U.S. SEC insider trading charges related to UCB SA’s $1.9 billion acquisition of Zogenix Inc.
A quick jury verdict that a biopharma official was guilty of insider trading validated the U.S. SEC’s broader view of what constitutes such trading and could ignite more SEC “shadow trading” investigations and allegations. Following an eight-day trial before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and a little more than two hours of deliberation, a jury found April 5 that Matthew Panuwat violated national securities laws when he purchased short-term, out-of-the-money stock options in Incyte Corp. in 2016.
Life science companies and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have not always seen eye to eye on issues such as compulsory licensing, but industry might be supportive of a remark by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai about companies that are provided with anticompetitive breathing by their host governments with noticeable anticompetitive effect.
Kevin Dills, who the U.S. SEC said secretly controlled Oncology Pharma Inc., consented to a final civil judgment in federal district court related to a fraudulent stock-selling scheme.
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