Uniquity Bio

Boston-area biotechs Upstream Bio and CAMP4 Therapeutics are headed to the Nasdaq on Friday, the latest companies to IPO in what appears to be a recovery for startups trying to raise capital on the public market. Upstream Bio priced at $17 per share, the high end of the $15 to $17 range it set earlier this week . By selling 15 million shares — 2.5 million more than originally planned — it will raise $255 million in new cash. CAMP4, meanwhile, priced its shares $CAMP at $11 apiece, $3 below the low end of the $14 to $16 range it marketed to investors. It sold 6.82 million shares versus an initial plan to offer 5 million and will raise $75 million . The IPO window is “showing signs of recovery,” Oppenheimer bankers wrote in a quarterly analysis this week. GPCR biotech Septerna is also in the IPO queue, and Bain-backed obesity startup Rivus Pharmaceuticals is also considering a listing this fall, Bloomberg reported this week. For Upstream $UPB the offering will add to its coffers as it runs Phase 2 and later-stage trials of its TSLP receptor antagonist verekitug. The experimental treatment, licensed from Astellas, is being studied for severe asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps . Upstream hopes to enter a similar market as Amgen and AstraZeneca’s Tezspire, as well as Blackstone-backed Uniquity Bio’s solrikitug . CAMP4 is working on regulatory RNA and has a Phase 1 trial of its lead drug, a CPS1-targeting medicine for urea cycle disorders. The IPO comes a few weeks after CAMP4 added BioMarin to its partnership lineup, which already includes Fulcrum Therapeutics and Eli Lilly. Earlier in its startup days, CAMP4 had pacts with Biogen and Alnylam.

Dive Brief:Upstream Bio announced Thursday it priced its initial public offering, raising $255 millionto fund development of an antibody drug its testing against several respiratory diseases.The Waltham, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company sold 15 millionshares at $17apiece,exceedingthe projections it set earlier this week. Shares will begin trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday morning under the ticker symbol UPB.The offering was one of two to price on Thursday, along with a $75 million stock issuance from RNA drug developer Camp4 Therapeutics.Data compiled by BioPharma Diveshow that there have now been seven biotech IPOs since mid-September, the biggest flurry of activity since the start of the year.Dive Insight:Upstreams IPO is another indication of investor enthusiasm for immune drug research.This year, six companies focused on immunology have priced IPOs, the most of any therapeutic area outside of oncology. Thats the highest total since 2021, and even then, only seven of the record 104 companies that went public were focused on anti-inflammatory drugs, according to BioPharma Dive data.Upstream is also the latest company with a drug in advanced clinical testing to experience IPO success. A majority of the 22 IPOs in 2024 and eight of the largest 10 offerings have involved companies with drugs in Phase 2 testing or later. Theyre part of what investment bank William Blair described in a recent report as a flight to quality in the IPO markets, where investors are favoring companies with proof-of-concept data in hand and a study readout expected within the next year.Upstream already has that type of data. It also anticipates reporting Phase 2 results in a type of chronic rhinosinusitis in the second half of 2025, and following with a readout from a mid-stage study in asthma the following year, according to its IPO filing.The drug involved in those trials, verekitug, targets a protein called TSLP that drives inflammatory responses to triggers such as allergens. It was originally owned by Astellas Pharma, which advanced the drug through early-stage testing but stopped work following a strategic review. Upstream used some of a $200 million Series A round to acquire verekitug in an auction in Oct. 2021, and has made the drug its focus ever since.In pinning its future on verekitug, Upstream is working on an already-proven and increasingly popular target. Amgen and AstraZenecas Tezpire, which also aims at TSLP, was approved for asthma in 2021. Since then, startups like Uniquity Bio, Aiolos Bio and Proteologix have advanced would-be competitors. Aiolos and Proteologix have also been acquired by larger drugmakers.Upstreams drug works slightly differently than Tezpire, binding to the TSLP receptor and not a related ligand. In its IPO filing, the company claimed verekitug could be more potent and require less frequent dosing than Tezpire, which is given every four weeks. Upstream is currently testing dosing intervals of 12 and 24 weeks in its Phase 2 trials.Prior to its IPO, Upstream raised a total of about $400 million in private financing from investors such as Enavate Sciences, Venrock Capital and Bain Capital Life Sciences. OrbiMed, its largest shareholder, owns a 13% stake, according to the IPO filing.The offering comes during a particularly active week for IPOs across the economy. According to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital, ten companies were expected to price offerings by Friday. There have already been a total of 111 IPOs in the U.S. so far in 2024, up 34% from last year, the firm said. '

Just hours after the US Federal Reserve announced the first interest rate cut in four years , respiratory biotech Upstream Bio revealed plans for a public listing. The Boston-area biotech unveiled its investor prospectus on Wednesday afternoon, saying it plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker $UPB . The biotech is developing a drug called verekitug, a TSLP receptor antagonist, for severe asthma and a form of chronic rhinosinusitis, with plans to go after the large market of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). After a chilly few months in the market, signs of life are emerging with biotech IPOs — and are likely to be helped by falling interest rates. Three companies listed last week , and this week the obesity startup BioAge said it plans to raise about $120 million in an upcoming IPO. William Blair healthcare banker Kevin Eisele told Endpoints News this week that he doesn’t expect “a mad rush out of the gates before year-end, but I do think we’ll see some sustained IPO activity until the new year and likely more in 2025.” The startup’s TSLP target has competition. Amgen and AstraZeneca sell the asthma drug Tezspire, although Upstream said its treatment candidate targets the receptor, a different method than the approved medicine. And Blackstone is betting up to $300 million on a company called Uniquity Bio, which is taking forward a former Merck atopic dermatitis asset, also targeting TSLP, that the company is repositioning for asthma and COPD. Upstream had $235 million in cash, equivalents and short-term investments at the end of June, according to its SEC filing. It disclosed a $200 million Series B in June 2023, about 12 months after disclosing its first $200 million round. It spent $25.7 million on R&D in the first half of this year, about double the $12.4 million it spent developing its drug in the same period last year. Upstream’s biggest shareholder is OrbiMed, which owns about 13%. Other investors with 5% or more are: AI Upstream, Altshuler Shaham Provident Funds and Pension, Decheng Capital, TCG Crossover, HBM Healthcare, Maruho Deutschland, Enavate Sciences, Samsara BioCapital, Omega, Bain Capital Life Sciences and Venrock.