Public biotechs raise at least $782.5M
Public biotechs raised at least $782.5 million on Wednesday through follow-ons and a note deal. Cancer company Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX) raised $358.6 million through the sale of 4.4 million shares in a follow-on underwritten by BofA Merrill Lynch and Barclays. Onyx proposed the offering late Tuesday, when its share price was $83.43. The company markets Kyprolis carfilzomib to treat multiple myeloma patients who have received two or more prior lines of therapy that include bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent and have demonstrated disease progression on or within 60 days of completion of the last therapy. Onyx also markets Nexavar sorafenib with Bayer AG (Xetra:BAYN) to treat liver cancer and advanced kidney cancer.
RNAi company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY) raised $185.2 million through the sale of 9.2 million shares, including 1.2 million shares in the overallotment, at $20.13 in a follow-on. JPMorgan; Morgan Stanley; Deutsche Bank; Piper Jaffray; Leerink; Needham; and JMP Securities were underwriters. Alnylam proposed to raise $125 million late Monday, when its share price was $20.55. The company plans to start Phase III testing this year of lead compound ALN-TTR02 to treat transthyretin (TTR)-mediated amyloidosis with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP). The product is an RNAi therapeutic targeting the TTR gene using second-generation lipid nanoparticle technology. ...