Cancer-focused Eikon Therapeutics is seeking $273.5 million in its bid to trade on the Nasdaq, while hair growth specialist Veradermics is looking for $181.1 million in its foray onto the New York Stock Exchange.
Just over two weeks after announcing their bids to go public, cancer outfit Eikon Therapeutics and hair growth biotech Veradermics have announced their fundraising targets.
Eikon, which is helmed by former Merck executive Roger Perlmutter and is targeting non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma, among other challenging cancers, is seeking $273.5 million—or approximately $315.4 million if the underwriters exercise in full their option to buy additional shares, according to an SEC filing on Wednesday. Eikon plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol EIKN.
Meanwhile, Connecticut-based Veradermics, which is in Phase III trials with its hair loss pill VDPHL01, an extended-release form of minoxidil, is looking for $181.1 million, according to its own SEC filing, also released Wednesday. Veradermics plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange, appropriately, under the heading MANE.
The companies’ IPO target reveals come after analysts and executives came away from the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference with a sense of “cautious optimism” about the biopharma sector and the year ahead.
Original story published Jan. 12:
Veradermics, Eikon Eye Public Market Debut as IPO Tap Opens
Following in the footsteps of Aktis Oncology last week, two more biotechs are looking to become publicly traded companies—an encouraging signal that the industry could be picking back up after last year’s drought.
On Friday, hair growth biotech Veradermics and cancer-forward Eikon Therapeutics announced their bids to debut on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Global Market, respectively. Neither company has so far specified how much they plan to raise or when they expect to close their initial public offering (IPO).
The IPO for Veradermics will primarily be used to advance its hair loss pill VDPHL01 through drug approval and initial commercialization, the Connecticut-based biotech wrote in its prospectus. Specifically, Veradermics anticipates that its IPO raise will help support doctor education and brand awareness activities.
Veradermics will also use the IPO money to beef up its supply chain and commercial infrastructure for the drug.
In October last year, Veradermics brought in $150 million in series C funding, which it likewise funneled into VDPHL01. The asset is currently in late-stage development, and the company touts it as an extended-release formulation of minoxidil, a vasodilator that can boost hair growth in patients with pattern hair loss.
Minoxidil is already approved for hair growth, but Veradermics asserts in its prospectus that VDPHL01 improves on the current therapy “via a novel and proprietary ER [extended-release] formulation designed to maximize the total plasma concentrations of minoxidil.” “We believe that our efforts mark the first attempt to bring an ER formulation of minoxidil to patients.”
Eikon, meanwhile, plans to earmark most of its haul to back the development of EIK1001, a dual agonist of toll-like receptors 7 and 8 that’s being developed for melanoma. Eikon will also use the money to advance EIK1003, which works similarly to EIK1001, for non-small cell lung cancer, as well as its other, less mature assets.
In June 2023, Eikon brought in $106 million in series C money. In a series of deals with Seven and Eight Biotherapeutics Corp., Impact Therapeutics and Cleave Therapeutics, Eikon at the time assembled its portfolio of investigational drugs, including EIK1001. Then, early last year, Eikon announced it had made $350.7 million in its series D round, marking one of 2025’s heftiest venture capital placements.
With their IPO bids, Veradermics and Eikon follow the lead of Aktis Oncology, which last week announced a $318-milion IPO target. The biotech began trading last Friday under the ticker symbol AKTS.
