ADARx Pharmaceuticals raised $446 million in its initial public offering, pricing 26.3 million shares at $17 each. The San Diego-based biotechnology firm exceeded its original plan to offer 21.9 million shares, hitting the high end of its projected $15 to $17 range. The financing positions the clinical-stage company to advance its pipeline of small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics. Shares of the company began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ADRX.
### Private Placement and Strategic Investment
Alongside the expanded share offering, pharmaceutical company AbbVie agreed to purchase shares in a concurrent private placement. The transaction increases AbbVie’s equity stake in ADARx to 4.9%, translating to 5.2 million shares compared to 5.0 million previously. A syndicate of financial institutions managed the public offering. The company’s current development portfolio consists of three clinical-stage programs and two advanced preclinical programs. The three clinical-stage candidates all target hepatic tissues. These programs are being evaluated for:
* Complement-mediated diseases
* Hereditary angioedema
* Thrombotic diseases
Beyond its clinical-stage assets, ADARx is advancing two additional programs toward the Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling stage. These research efforts target obesity and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease.
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