Autoimmune disease biotech Odyssey sets terms for $225m IPO

After failing to muster sufficient support for an IPO last year, autoimmune and inflammatory disease specialist Odyssey Therapeutics is having another go.

The Boston, Massachusetts-based company set the terms for its offering yesterday, hoping to raise up to $232 million from the sale of 13.2 million shares at between $16 and $18.

Odyssey – which raised $213 million in a Series D private financing last September – is working on a small-molecule RIPK2 scaffolding inhibitor, OD-001 (formerly OD-07656), which is in phase 2 testing for ulcerative colitis as a monotherapy and in combination with Takeda's blockbuster inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) therapy Entyvio (vedolizumab).

To date, most of the effort by the pharma industry in RIPK scaffolding – a key regulator of inflammation and cell death pathways – has focused on RIPK1, so far with little success. Rigel Pharma and Eli Lilly's ocadusertib is furthest along in development, in phase 2a for rheumatoid arthritis. The trial was due to complete last year, but no results have been posted, and Lilly handed rights to the asset back to Rigel last month.

Following after its RIPK2 inhibitor programme, Odyssey also has two small-molecule drugs in the final stages of preclinical development. SCL15A4-targeting OD-002 has the potential to be a first-in-class treatment for conditions like lupus, Sjogren's syndrome, systemic sclerosis, and other B-cell-mediated diseases, while TNFR2 agonist OD-003 is being prepared for studies in atopic dermatitis, lupus, and alopecia areata.

The biotech also has discovery-stage projects targeting TSLP/IL-33, IRAK4, and IRF5, according to its pipeline listing.

If it hits the top end of its IPO range, Odyssey will list on the Nasdaq under the ODTX symbol, with a valuation of around $810 million. It abandoned an attempt last year, blaming poor market conditions.

The company was founded in 2021 with a mission to develop drugs that target upstream signalling nodes in inflammatory diseases, and is led by biotech entrepreneur Dr Gary Glick, who also set up Lycera, IFM Therapeutics, and Scorpion Therapeutics.

In a resurgent market for biotech IPOs on the Nasdaq this year, offerings have tended to be oversubscribed and hit the top end of pricing, with Kailera Therapeutics' record-breaking $625 million debut last month coming after impressive raises from the likes of Generate:Biomedicines, Eikon Therapeutics, and Hemab Therapeutics.

2026 is shaping up to be a bumper year for IPOs, with rising median values for deals, particularly for companies with mid to late clinical-stage assets in obesity, oncology, immunology, and AI discovery platforms. The increased activity is also coming alongside an uptick in M&A activity, with big pharma groups buying up start-ups at a higher rate than has been seen for some time.