San Francisco Business Times by Ron Leuty, Reporter
Alameda diagnostic test developer Singulex Inc. filed for an $86.25 million initial public offering Friday, promising a test to measure signs of heart disease at previously undetectable levels.
Using the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS, Act to qualify as an “emerging growth company,” 15-year-old Singulex said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its technology helps to earlier detect and monitor biomarkers of heart attacks, heart failure, stroke and other heart diseases.
Its test measures the levels of cytokines. Higher levels of those cell-signaling protein molecules in the blood generally correlate to a higher risk for heart attacks.
Singulex would be traded on the New York Stock Exchange as “SGLX.”
The heart disease test market is not an easy one to crack, but Singulex’s early numbers are strong for a newcomer. While going up against the likes of Berkeley HeartLab Inc. -- now part of Quest Diagnostics -- as well as the diagnostics units of Roche, Abbott Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson, Singulex said its cardiovascular disease monitoring service helped it post revenue of $20.5 million in the first six months of this year.
The company, led by CEO Philippe Goix, lost $9.9 million in the first half.
Singulex has performed about 1.4 million tests, it said in the SEC filing. It markets the assay in 28 states.
The company had cash and equivalents of $7.9 million as of June 30, according to its SEC filing, and accumulated deficit of $80.9 million.
Expenses are expected to rise, the company said, as it hires more people into its sales force, expands its operating and manufacturing, including hiring more full-time laboratory employees in Alameda, and hires more back-office employees.
Singulex’s board includes OrbiMed Advisors co-founder Carl Gordon and Applied Biosystems founder André Marion.
