Aspen, Bambusa close IPOs as Corxel takes SPAC route
The appetite for Nasdaq listings shows no signs of letting up, with Aspen Neuroscience and Bambusa Therapeutics getting their IPOs over the line, while Corxel eyes a debut via a blank-cheque company merger.
Bambusa raises $169m in upsized offering
Boston, Massachusetts-based immunology and inflammation (I&I) specialist Bambusa Therapeutics sold its block of shares at the bottom end of its hoped-for $15 to $17 range, but scaled up the number on offer to 11.3 million from 9.4 million, helping it to gross proceeds of $168.9 million. Trading is due to start on the Nasdaq today under the BBTX ticker.
The proceeds are earmarked for lead product candidate BBT001, billed as a "next-generation" bispecific antibody directed against IL-4Rα and IL-31, which is in early-stage development to treat a type of dermatitis and other inflammatory skin diseases. It's a tried-and-tested mechanism shared with Sanofi/Regeneron's blockbuster type 2 inflammatory skin disease therapy Dupixent (dupilumab), which made €5.7 billion in sales in the third quarter of this year.
BBT001 is in a phase 2a trial in China for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), while Bambusa is running a phase 1 study in atopic dermatitis. Meanwhile, Bambusa is also working on BBT002, which targets IL-4Rα and IL-5 and is in early-stage clinical trials for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP), and asthma.
Aspen adds $141m to fund its Parkinson's cell therapy plans
Aspen Neuroscience, which is developing stem cell therapies for Parkinson's disease, sold 9.37 million shares, slightly below its target of 9.4 million, at $15, the bottom of its anticipated $15-$17 range. The stock is due to start trading today under the ASPE symbol.
The gross proceeds of $140.6 million from the IPO will fund clinical testing of its one-shot autologous candidate, sasineprocel (formerly ANPD001), which is derived from patient skin cells and is currently in the phase 1/2a ASPIRO study.
The San Diego, California, biotech had dosed 15 Parkinson's patients with sasineprocel as of 18th August, and after discussions with the FDA, is hoping to start a phase 3 trial in the latter half of 2027. The cell therapy has secured fast-track and regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) designations from the FDA, which could speed up its development and regulatory review.
Corxel Pharma seeks $375m from SPAC merger
Obesity-focused Corxel Pharma has said it plans to go public by merging with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Amanat Acquisition Corp, in a deal expected to generate roughly $375 million in proceeds once the deal goes through next year. That will include approximately $75 million from Amanat's recent IPO and $300 million from an accompanying private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing.
While the SPAC route to a listing has fallen out of favour, after reaching a peak in the early 2020s, it remains an option and can be a quicker, simpler, and cheaper process, with less scrutiny of a company's finances, liabilities, and operational processes before listing.
The proceeds will be used to fund pivotal trials of Corxel's lead drug CX11, a once-daily, oral GLP-1 agonist for obesity and type 2 diabetes, which is in phase 2 testing in the US with a higher-strength version in phase 1b. The company – which will be renamed to separate it from Asian sister company Corxel HK that isn't involved in the merger – also has a small-molecule amylin receptor agonist in preclinical development.
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
