September 22, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
Skin treatment Dermira has raised its initial public offering more than 30 percent to $98 million, the company said late Friday.
The acne drug developer had originally priced its IPO at $75 million but appears to be capitalizing on a boom in biotech IPOs to ratchet up its potential share price. The company has now set its initial prices at $16 per share and would trade on the NASDAQ exchange as “DERM.”
Dermira said that it would use proceeds from its IPO to fund research and development of its acne-treating standout, Cimzia. It said $30 million from the IPO would immediately be put to work developing DRM-04, a treatment for hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating. Around $15 million would be earmarked for acne treatment DRM-01.
The company already has a partnership in place with UCB Pharma S.A. to develop the drug. UCB currently markets therapies for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.
Dermira has raised about $128 million since it was founded in 2010, in a $51 million Series C round in August. It is owned primarily by venture capitalists including New Enterprise Associates (21 percent), Bay City Capital (21 percent stake), Canaan Partners (15 percent), UCB SA (8.4 percent), Maruho Co. Ltd. (7.3 percent), Apple Tree Partners (6.4 percent) and Fidelity Investments (6.4 percent).
Dermira still has not produced revenue and has an accumulated deficit of about $68 million. But if Wall Street likes the company, it could net more than $82 million at the mid-point of its IPO range.
Dermira joins fellow South San Francisco biotech Calithera Biosciences Inc. in supersizing its offer--the cancer drug developer also said Friday it would seek up to $103.5 million for its IPO.
