October 27, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Silicon Valley’s Coherus BioSciences, which is developing a biosimilar version of Amgen ‘s Enbrel treatment for inflammatory diseases, will raise $85 million for its initial public offering, the company said last week.
Redwood City, Calif.-based Coherus said it will offer 6.3 million shares at a price range of $12 to $15. With that midpoint range, it would have a fully diluted market value of $508 million. The company said it plans to list under the ticker CHRS and will have J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse as the joint bookrunners on the deal.
The biotech’s primary shareholders include Sofinnova Venture, Venrock, KKR, Daiichi Sankyo, Lilly Ventures, Medpace and Chairman and CEO Dennis Lanfear.
Its biggest allure appears to be its attempt to field a biosimilar version of anti-inflammatory injectable Enbrel. Produced by Amgen, the drug is approved for usage to treat a myriad of inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.
Baxter has funneled $246 million into Coherus’s Phase III program for the drug, a sum that bought it the commercial rights in Europe, Canada, Brazil and other markets. Shareholder Daiichi owns the drug’s Japanese rights.
Coherus is also getting ready to debut a Phase I biosimilar of AbbVie ‘s blockbuster Humira, and a Phase I development of Amgen‘s white blood cell-bolstering treatment Neulasta.
Coherus will join the fall parade of biotech IPOS that has included Vitae Pharmaceuticals, Dermira and Forward Pharma. Coherus was founded in 2010 has saw $10 million in sales year-over-year in June.
