Funding roundup: Auspex, Radius, Zafgen, Otonomy, Verastem, Vitae
Auspex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ASPX), Radius Health Inc. (NASDAQ:RDUS), Zafgen Inc. (NASDAQ:ZFGN), Otonomy Inc. (NASDAQ:OTIC), Verastem Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) and Vitae Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VTAE) have raised more than $600 million in follow-on offerings since market close on Thursday. The flurry puts an exclamation point on what was already one of biotech's strongest money-raising weeks in history.
Auspex raised $169.5 million through the sale of 3 million shares at $56.50. Existing shareholders sold another 1 million shares in the offering. JPMorgan; Stifel; BMO Capital Markets; Baird; and William Blair were underwriters. Auspex proposed the offering after market close on Wednesday when its shares were valued at $62.83. The company gained $1.56 to $58.46 on Friday. Auspex nearly doubled in value on Dec. 17, 2014, after its SD-809 met the primary endpoint in a Phase III trial to treat chorea associated with Huntington's disease (see BioCentury Extra, Dec. 16, 2014). ...