Wall Street is welcoming a new drug developer to the stock markets for the second Friday in a row.
Mineralys Therapeutics
said
Thursday night its
initial public offering
had priced at $16 per share, the high end of its proposed range, with an expected $192 million in proceeds.
The biotech, nearing a Phase III for its lead asset, joins a
small club
of
drug developers
that has jumped onto the
public markets
recently after the IPO door appeared to
slam shut last winter
.
Looking to sell 12 million shares to kick off its Nasdaq entry as
$MYLS
, the Pennsylvania biotech will use the proceeds to bankroll its hypertension drug lorundrostat, which cleared a Phase II at the end of last year. Another 1.8 million shares could be gobbled up by underwriters in a 30-day window.
The IPO follows Structure Therapeutics, which on Feb. 3 debuted in a $161 million IPO.
There are signs that market conditions are improving: A Nasdaq spokesperson told
Endpoints News
there were 17 biotech IPOs last year, which raised $1.1 billion on the exchange. More than 30 filings are slated for this year, the spokesperson said. Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Swiss rare disease biotech Relief Therapeutics
withdrew its IPO plan
, though said it intends to try again.
Mineralys is backed by RA Capital and reeled in $118 million last year in a
Series B
financing. A $40 million
Series A
launched the company in April 2021.
At the time of the Phase II readout last fall, Mineralys CEO Jon Congleton told Endpoints the company would look to start a Phase III trial in the first half of 2023.
The company’s aldosterone synthase inhibitor, also known as MLS-101, could compete with AstraZeneca. The UK drugmaker is paying
$1.8 billion
to buy CinCor Pharma and its drug baxdrostat. While baxdrostat
flunked a mid-stage test
last fall, the company is pushing forward with the compound.
Catalys Pacific Fund owns the most of Mineralys, with about 32.9% controlled by the Japanese investment firm, according to an SEC filing. Samsara BioCapital, HBM Healthcare Investments, Adams Street Partners and BioDiscovery own chunks as well.