Seattle Biotech Immune Design Corporation Prices IPO At $12 Per Share, The Low End Of The Range

Seattle Biotech Immune Design Prices IPO At $12 Per Share, The Low End Of The Range
July 24, 2014
By Renee Morad, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Immune Design, a Seattle-based biotech company working on immune-based therapies to fight cancer, announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 5 million shares at $12 per share.

The shares will trade on the NASDAQ under the symbol beginning on July 24, 2014. The offering is expected to close on July 29, 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.

The company plans to raise $60 million to complete phase I clinical trials and to support continued development.

The company is focused on targeting tumors and killing them off through the body’s immune system. The treatment is conducted through a series of injections on patients with breast cancer, melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, sarcoma or Merkel cell carcinoma.

“We have engineered our technologies to activate the immune system’s natural ability to create tumor-specific cytotoxic T cells and fight cancer,” the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Immune Design also believes their platforms have therapeutic potential in infectious disease, allergy and autoimmune diseases.

Immune Design is offering all of the shares of common stock. The company has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 750,000 additional shares of common stock.

Jefferies LLC and Leerink Partners LLC are acting as joint book-running managers on the deal and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC is acting as lead manager for the offering.

The SEC declared a registration statement relating to the common stock being offered by Immune Design effective on July 23, 2014.

The company had previously planned to offer 4.7 million shares at a range of $12 to $14 per share. Insiders were expected to purchase $24 million in stock at the offer price, which was 40 percent of the offering, according to Renaissance Capital.

Carlos Paya, former president of the Elan Corporation, is the chief executive officer of Immune Design. He has been with the company since 2011.

With Immune Design’s product candidates in phase I trials, product revenues are not expected for several years. The company said it had a net loss of $16 million for the last year and has an accumulated deficit of $64.8 million since it was founded.

“We anticipate that we will incur net losses for the forseeable future,” the company said in an SEC filing.

Immune Design currently has three clinical trials under way. The most recent trial, which started in April, is likely to be completed by December 2016.

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