Mineralys Therapeutics has become the second biotechnology startup in a week to go public, raising $192 million in one of the sector’s largest new stock offerings in months.
Mineralys sold 12 million shares at $16 apiece, the biggest offering by total proceeds since May 2022, according to BioPharma Dive data. The company, which is headquartered in Radnor, Penn., will begin trading under the ticker symbol “MLYS” on Friday on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Mineralys’ IPO follows closely on the heels of Structure Therapeutics’ $161 million offering last week. Its Nasdaq debut marks the first time two biotechs have each raised more than $100 million in IPOs in the same month since last May, a reflection of the tough funding environment young drugmakers currently face.
Mineralys, like many of the companies that successfully went public in 2022, is built around one primary asset that’s already in clinical testing. Amid a market downturn, investor support has grown again for single product-focused biotechs, versus platform companies that require longer runways and often greater funding.
In a June 2022 analysis of more than 500 biotechs that have gone public since 2010, seven of the top 10 underperformers then were platform companies, according to consulting and research firm Bay Bridge Bio.
Mineralys’ candidate, MLS-101, is what’s known as an aldosterone synthase inhibitoraldosterone synthase inhibitor. A hormone released by the kidneys, aldosterone manages blood pressure by controlling levels of sodium and potassium in the blood.
It’s also been the target of drugmakers for years. High levels of aldosterone are linked to uncontrolled hypertension, when extremely high blood pressure is not adequately treated by other medications.
Last fall, the company read out positive data from a Phase 2 study of more than 200 patients, showing that a daily dose of MLS-101 resulted in “substantial placebo-adjusted reduction in blood pressure for 24 hours.”