Scribe raises $155m in IPO, as Apnimed pitches for $150m

Scribe Therapeutics has become the latest biotech to list on the Nasdaq in the US, raising more than $155 million to advance a pipeline of in vivo CRISPR-based therapies for cardiometabolic diseases.

Alameda, California-based Scribe's lead drug candidate is STX-115, designed to epigenetically silence PCSK9 and reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol without permanently altering DNA, and is currently in a first-in-human trial in Australia, with data due next year.

The company, which counts new Nobel Prize for Chemistry winner Jennifer Doudna among its founders, is the 14th biotech to list on the Nasdaq since the start of the year, already close to overtaking the number for 2025 as a whole, but still well down on the highs of 2020 and 2021.

As an early-stage company, Scribe has bucked the trend this year for IPOs involving companies that have assets in the final stages of development and driven record-breaking raises, including the $670 million raised by Parabilis and Kailera's $625 million haul.

Scribe's more modest IPO came from the sale of 8.6 million shares at $15, raising $129 million, but once again showed the rebound in investor sentiment for biotech listings by closing at the top end of its $13 to $15 target. Eli Lilly, an early investor in the company, which has an ongoing R&D collaboration with Scribe, has claimed a 10%-plus stake in the biotech as a result of the listing.

Meanwhile, Sanofi - which has been collaborating with Scribe since 2022 - added to the IPO tally with a concurrent $7.5 million private purchase of 500,000 shares, while underwriters took up their options to buy additional shares and drove the value to a final tally of $155.5 million.

Investors have been impressed by preliminary data with STX-115, which has the potential to offer long-lasting reductions in LDL cholesterol – possibly as long as 18 months – with a single administration. Scribe, meanwhile, is also working on two other cardiovascular candidates targeting Lp(a) and triglycerides.

The company started trading on the Nasdaq, under the SCTX ticker, at $21.65, but has since retreated to a level just under $19.

Apnimed seeks $150m for sleep apnoea asset

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Apnimed, which first announced its intention to list on the Nasdaq a couple of weeks ago, has now priced its IPO at a proposed range of $14 to $16 for 10 million shares, which could generate gross proceeds of around $150 million.

Proceeds are earmarked for the anticipated commercial launch of AD109, a once-daily pill combining the novel antimuscarinic drug aroxybutynin and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (sNRI) Oxnimbi (atomoxetine), which was filed with the FDA as an obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) therapy in April.

In late 2024, Eli Lilly's GIP/GLP-1 agonist Zepbound (tirzepatide) became the first FDA-approved therapy for OSA as weekly, injectable treatment, and Oxnimbi could offer an oral alternative taken as a single dose at bedtime.

Apnimed intends to list on the Nasdaq under the APMD symbol.

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