The week finished with flurry of biotech IPOs, seven of them, a record number in a single day, according to BioWorld stats. Last year was a record year for IPOs as 106 new offerings were completed and raised $22.5 billion, more than double the previous record of $10.7 billion set in 2018. The seven companies that priced Feb. 5 are anticipating total gross proceeds of about $1.06 billion.
Of the three companies launching IPOs Feb. 4, one struggled mightily, another posted double-digit gains while the third ended the day flat. Shares of Landos Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:LABP) dropped 25%, to $12 each, on their first day of trading. Sana Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ:SANA) had the strongest first day of trading as shares closed 40.4% higher at the close at $35.10. Sensei Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSE) saw its IPO launch roughly break even on its first day of trading, closing with only a half-point gain at $18.90.
Pfizer Inc. reported solid earnings for 2020 and said it expects even bigger things this year as the company projects approximately $15 billion in earnings from the COVID-19 vaccine it co-developed with Biontech SE.
Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. could receive an aggregate $1.1 billion from Coherus Biosciences Inc. for the rights to develop and commercialize Junshi’s anti-PD-1 antibody toripalimab in the U.S. and Canada. The deal is powered by Coherus’ core biosimilar business and is designed to steer the company into the business of immuno-oncology.
When Cassava Sciences Inc.’s president and CEO, Remi Barbier, opened up the interim analysis of the company’s open-label study for Alzheimer’s disease candidate simufilam, he was more than pleased with the results but found himself an audience of one. His researchers had been confident about the results before the data were tallied. “I was ecstatic,” he told Bioworld. “No one’s seen this type of improvement in Alzheimer’s. But our scientists said, ‘See, I told you so.’ It was not my expectation.” The new data showed six months’ treatment with the oral, small molecule not just stabilized but improved cognition and behavior scores in AD patients.
Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. could receive an aggregate $1.1 billion from Coherus Biosciences Inc. for the rights to develop and commercialize Junshi’s anti-PD-1 antibody toripalimab in the U.S. and Canada. The deal is powered by Coherus’ core biosimilar business and is designed to steer the company into the business of immuno-oncology.
Sweeping in behind Novavax Inc.’s positive phase III COVID-19 vaccine data is Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, which met all the primary endpoints and key secondary endpoints in its phase III study, according to an interim analysis that found it to be 85% effective overall in preventing severe disease.
In light of its ongoing restructuring of priorities, Medigene AG, of Planegg/Martinsried, Germany, is now discontinuing its MDG-1021 development program. The company was planning a phase I study of the T-cell receptor-modified T-cell (TCR-T) therapy that targets the antigen HA-1 in patients with relapsed or persistent blood cancers after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
The record pace of biopharmas filing for IPOs in the U.S. continues as five more companies filed SEC paperwork, looking for gross proceeds totaling $356 million. In 2020, 106 new offerings were completed and raised $22.5 billion, more than double 2018's record of $10.7 billion.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. posted positive initial results from its ongoing phase III study of its monoclonal antibody cocktail, REGEN-COV (casirivimab and imdevimab), used as a passive vaccine, designed to provide immediate short-term passive immunity to prevent COVID-19 in people at high risk of infection due to household exposure to a COVID-19 patient. Eli Lilly and Co. reported upbeat news the same day, as the phase III Blaze-1 trial testing its antibody cocktail met its primary and key secondary endpoints.
