Akebia raises $58M in follow-on

Akebia Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA) raised $58 million through the sale of 4 million shares at $14.50 in a follow-on underwritten by Morgan Stanley, JMP Securities, Needham, Raymond James, BTIG and H.C. Wainwright. The price is a 6% discount to Akebia's close of $15.50 on Wednesday, when it proposed the offering after market hours. Akebia dipped $0.40 to $15.10 on Thursday.

Last month, Akebia began the Phase II FO2RWARD trial of its lead candidate, vadadustat (formerly AKB-6548), to treat anemia in dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients who are hyporesponsive to erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs). Akebia expects data by YE18...