BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

Early (or late?) to the starting gate

December 16, 1996 8:00 AM UTC

Despite a whipsaw market, three bravehearts are attempting to sell IPOs. The list includes diagnostic developer Biosite Diagnostics; Coulter Pharmaceutical, a developer of lymphoma therapies; and Epix Medical Inc. (formerly Metasyn), a developer of imaging agents. If sold as proposed, the companies would carve $74 million out of the funding pie. The companies may be hoping that fund managers will be looking for new opportunities when the whistle blows in January.

MARKET HOPEFULS: Biosite Diagnostics Inc. (Proposed:BSTE) filed to sell 2 million shares at $11-$13. A $12 price would value the company at $143 million. The San Diego, Calif., company sells a family of rapid, monoclonal antibody-based diagnostics. A group of VCs - including Medicus Venture Partners; Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Euclid Partners; and Kingsbury Capital Partners - will own 40 percent after the offering. Merck KGaA will own 8.8 percent. . . . Coulter Pharmaceutical (Proposed:CLTR) filed to raise a maximum of $30 million in its IPO. The company provided little guidance in its S-1 registration statement, leaving blank the number of shares it plans to sell and the price range. The company, which is developing a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma product, was founded in 1995 by Coulter Corp. (Miami, Fla.) and InterWest Partners. Prior to the offering, InterWest owns 25.2 percent of Coulter, while Coulter Corp. owns 22.1 percent. Brentwood Associates and BankAmerica Ventures each own 5.7 percent. . . . Epix Medical Inc. (Proposed:EPIX) filed to sell 2 million shares at $9-$11. At $10, the Cambridge, Mass., company would have an $83 million market cap. Epix is developing MS-325, an injectable agent for multiple vascular imaging indications. A group of VCs - including Accel IV L.P.; Bessemer Venture Partners; Advent International; and Fidelity Ventures - will own 46.7 percent of Epix after the offering. Daiichi Radioisotope Laboratories will own 7 percent...