Epizyme raises $87.8 million in follow-on

Cancer company Epizyme Inc. (NASDAQ:EPZM) raised $87.8 million through the sale of 3 million shares at $29.25 in a follow-on underwritten by Citigroup; Cowen; Leerink; JMP Securities; Wedbush PacGrow; and BTIG. Epizyme first proposed to raise up to $140 million in the offering on Jan. 24, when its share price was $34.94. On Monday, the company said it planned to sell 3 million shares in the offering. Epizyme shareholders also sold 1.5 million shares at $29.25 in a concurrent secondary offering.

Epizyme's EPZ-5676 is in Phase I testing for advanced hematologic malignancies, including acute leukemia with rearrangements of the myeloid-lymphoid or mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL; HRX) gene. On Jan. 7, Epizyme jumped $15.49 (76%) to $35.99 after receiving a $25 million proof-of-concept milestone from partner Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ:CELG) for the histone methyltransferase DOT1L (DOT1L) inhibitor (see BioCentury, Jan. 13). ...