Dicerna, Celladon, Eagle amend IPOs

RNAi play Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Watertown, Mass.), gene therapy company Celladon Corp. (San Diego, Calif.) and drug delivery company Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Woodcliff Lake, N.J.) all amended planned IPOs on NASDAQ. Dicerna bumped up both the number of shares and price for its IPO. The company plans to raise $84 million through the sale of 6 million shares at $14, which would value Dicerna at $232.8 million. Last week, the company said it planned to sell 5 million shares at $11-$13. Jefferies; Leerink; Stifel; and Baird are underwriters. Dicerna is using its Dicer Substrate short interfering RNA (DsiRNA) technology to develop DsiRNA molecules, which are longer than other RNAi molecules and are processed by Dicer, an enzyme involved in the RNAi gene silencing cascade. This half, the company plans to start clinical testing of DCR-M1711, a DsiRNA targeting v-myc myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog ( MYC; c-Myc) mRNA. The compound is in development for MYC-related cancers, with an initial focus on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Celladon now plans to raise $40 million through the sale of 5 million shares at $8, which would value the company at $137.4 million. Barclays; Stifel; and Wedbush PacGrow are underwriters. Last week, Celladon -- which had postponed its IPO in November -- filed an S-1A that no longer contained a share price or proposed number of shares. Before postponing its IPO, Celladon had said it planned to sell 5 million shares at $14-$16. Celladon's Mydicar is in the Phase IIb CUPID 2 trial to treat advanced heart failure (HF), with data expected in April 2015 (see BioCentury Extra, Jan. 22). ...