Date: Mar 17, 2014 Author: Michael Davidson Source: xConomy (
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Maybe the second time will be the charm for GlobeImmune, a Louisville, CO-based biotech that filed for an IPO on Monday after seeing its first effort to do so come up empty.
The company, which initially filed for an IPO in 2012 but cancelled those plans last October after it couldn't find buyers, is looking to raise $35 million through a new offering—less than half the roughly $75 million sum it attempted to raise the first time around, according to its prospectus.
GlobeImmune was founded in 1995 and is developing potential cancer and infectious disease treatments that are designed to work by stimulating T cells to seek out and attack certain specific, infected cells.
GlobeImmune has drug development partnerships in place with Foster City, CA-based Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) and Summit, N.J.-based Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG), which owns a significant stake in the company. Through its deal with GlobeImmune, Gilead grabbed rights to an experimental chronic hepatitis B drug, GS-4774, that is in a mid-stage clinical trial. Celgene, meanwhile, is working on possible cancer treatments with the Colorado company. The most advanced drug candidate to come out of that so far, GI-6207, is in a Phase 2 study as well. According to the prospectus, those partnerships have brought GlobeImmune $60 million.
Aside from Celgene, other investors include venture capital firms Morgenthaler Partners, HealthCare Ventures, and Lilly Ventures. The company had reportedly raised about $119 million through 2013. In February, GlobeImmune raised another $7.5 million in a private placement.
GlobeImmune said in the filing it will use the money to continue testing drug candidates, increase the size of its manufacturing facility, and for general corporate purposes.
GlobeImmune reported it has an accumulated deficit of $199.3 million and has reported a net loss for all but one year in its history. The company doesn't expect to be profitable in the next several years as it expands its discovery and research and development efforts.
If the company succeeds in going public, GlobeImmune would trade under the GBIM symbol on the NASDAQ Global Markets exchange. Aegis Capital Corp. is underwriting the offering.
Michael Davidson is the editor of Xconomy Boulder/Denver. He covers startups, venture capital, clean tech, energy, aerospace, telecoms, and whatever else happens above 5,280 feet. Contact him at mdavidson@xconomy.com
