With the shutdown ongoing, Evommune plans to close its IPO on Nov. 5 via a Securities Act clause that allows registrations to come into effect after a certain window has passed.
After announcing its intentions to head to the public stock exchange a few weeks ago, Evommune on Thursday set its target initial public offering price.
Evommune plans to put nearly 9.4 million shares of its common stock up for sale for between $15 to $17 apiece, resulting in a total IPO value of $140 million to $160 million. The California-based company also intends to tack on a 30-day option for underwriters to buy 1.4 million more shares. Once closed, the biotech will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol $EVMN.
A key hurdle stands in Evommune’s way, however: The current ongoing federal shutdown. To get around this, the biotech expects to complete its IPO via Section 8(a) of the Securities Act, which provides that registrations can take effect not sooner than 20 days after filing. Evommune expects this date to fall on Nov. 5. If the shutdown ends before then, the biotech plans to “re-evaluate” the use of Section 8(a), according to a Thursday press release.
Evommune earlier this month filed a securities document announcing its plans to go public. At the time, the biotech did not indicate the target price for the offering, but said that the money would primarily serve to “increase our financial flexibility.” Evommune also plans to use the proceeds to advance its pipeline of clinical-stage assets for inflammatory conditions.
Evommune’s most mature asset is EVO756, an orally available small-molecule inhibitor of the MRGPRX2 receptor, which is commonly found on cells of the immune system and on peripheral neurons. According to the biotech’s website, blocking MRGPRX2 can disrupt the otherwise dysfunctional and hyperactive inflammatory cascade that underpins many diseases.
EVO765 has recently completed a Phase II study in chronic inducible urticaria and is in mid-stage testing for chronic spontaneous urticaria, Evommune said in its prospectus. In testing for the former indication, the biotech detected “clinical activity” enough to also support EVO765’s advancement in the latter condition. Evommune is also launching an atopic dermatitis program for the drug.
Aside from EVO765, the California biotech is also working on EVO301, a fusion protein that binds and neutralizes the inflammatory cytokine IL-18. Evommune in March started a program for EVO301 in moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis, with future plans to study the asset in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, according to the prospectus.
With the IPO terms set on Thursday, Evommune follows the path set by MapLight Therapeutics, which earlier this month announced a goal to bring in $227.3 million in IPO proceeds, to fund development of its Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia candidates. In September, LB Pharma landed on Nasdaq after closing a $285 million IPO, also to power its neuroscience pipeline.
Other IPOs this year include Metsera, Maze Therapeutics and Aardvark.
