Auris, Avalanche, Tobira, Loxo set IPO terms
Audiology company Auris Medical AG (Zug, Switzerland), ophthalmic play Avalanche Biotechnologies Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.), infectious disease company Tobira Therapeutics Inc. (San Francisco, Calif.) and Loxo Oncology Inc. (Stamford, Conn.) amended NASDAQ IPOs on Monday.
Auris now plans to sell 6.9 million shares at $10-$12. At the $11 midpoint, the company would raise $75.9 million and be valued at $283.2 million. Last month, Auris filed to raise up to $86.3 million. Jefferies; Leerink Partners; JMP Securities; and Needham are underwriters. The company's esketamine ( AM-101) is in the North American Phase III TACTT2 trial and the European Phase III TACTT3 trial for acute inner ear tinnitus, with top-line data expected in early 2016. Esketamine is an intratympanically injected non-competitive antagonist of NMDA receptors. Next quarter, Auris plans to begin Phase III testing of its AM-111 to treat acute inner ear hearing loss. A selective c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor, AM-111 is partnered with Xigen S.A. (Epalinges, Switzerland). ...