AveXis, Proteostasis dip after IPOs

Gene therapy company AveXis Inc. (NASDAQ:AVXS) and respiratory company Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:PTI) both posted losses in their first day of trading Thursday after pricing IPOs.

AveXis fell $1.95 (10%) to $18.05 after it raised $95 million through the sale of 4.8 million shares at $20, the midpoint of its proposed range. Underwriters were Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, BMO Capital Markets and Chardan. The IPO price valued AveXis at $448 million. Earlier this month, AveXis said it hoped to sell 4.3 million shares. At $20, it would have raised $85 million and been valued at $438 million. At Thursday's close, its market cap was $404.3 million. In 1H17, AveXis hopes to begin pivotal studies of AVXS-101 to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1. The therapy, which uses NAV rAAV9 vector technology from RegenxBio Inc. (NASDAQ:RGNX) to deliver the survival motor neuron ( SMN) gene, has Orphan Drug designation from FDA to treat all types of SMA, and Fast Track designation to treat SMA type 1. ...