After Exiting RTP, CoLucid Pharma Files with SEC for $86M IPO
March 31, 2015
By Krystle Vermes, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Since abruptly leaving North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park for Massachusetts earlier this month, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $86 million in an initial public offering. The company, which is seeking a permanent office space in Cambridge, Mass., is known for developing a novel treatment for migraine headaches. It plans to list under the symbol CLCD on NASDAQ.
The company initially filed confidentially on Feb. 24, but no pricing terms were disclosed. Piper Jaffray and Stifel are the joint bookrunners on the deal. At the moment, CoLucid is based in Burlington, Mass., until it can find office space closer to Boston, Mass.
The Move to a Biotech Community
Although Research Triangle Park is one of the largest research parks in the country, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc. moved to accommodate its management team members, who happen to be located in Massachusetts. The biotechnology has thrived in the Bay State as of late, with more than 27,883 people employed in this industry. As of 2014, there are now 1,384 drugs in development from research project to pending approval stage.
"We are very proud to have been a North Carolina-based company since our inception,” said Thomas Mathers, chief executive officer of CoLucid. “However, given the expansion of our management team with Massachusetts-based executives, we feel it is the right time to relocate. Cambridge is the heart of the biotechnology industry and we are very excited to be a part of all the innovation and excitement that takes place here every day.”
The $36.9 Million Stock Offering
In January 2015, CoLucid announced that it has completed a $36.9 million Series C preferred stock offering. TVM CapitalLife Science, as well as Novo Ventures and Auriga Partners, led the financing round. At the time, CoLucid specified that it was going to use proceeds to fund its Phase III program for Lasmiditan, its oral drug for the treatment of migraines.
“The team at CoLucid has demonstrated singular focus in developing Lasmiditan and defining a highly differentiated development pathway,” Mathers said at the time of the announcement. “Lasmiditan is a promising new chemical entity in late-stage development with a new mechanism of action for the acute treatment of migraine.”
Lasmiditan, which has marked CoLucid’s success, works by selectively targeting the 5-HT1F receptors expressed in the trigeminal pathway. It is available in both oral and intravenous forms.