PolyPid, a developer of orthopedic drugs from the Xenia incubator, today published an open draft prospectus for raising $23 million on Nasdaq. No company value was listed, but estimates are that the company is aiming at a value of around $100 million, after money.
The offering is smaller than those seen thus far this year on Nasdaq. Its size matches the stage the company has reached - before any sales - and its field - a combination of a delayed release drug and a medical device. Underwriter Aegis, which specializes in small and relatively unknown issues, will lead the offering, and MLV and Chardan Capital will be the secondary underwriters. The offering is scheduled for next month.
The primary shareholders in PolyPid are the Xenia incubator, which has a 16% pre-offering stake; the Friendly Angels club, headed by Adv. Jack Eitan Kyiet, who is also PolyPid's COO (12.4%); inventor and CTO Noam Emanuel (7.1%); CEO and investor Amir Weisberg (5.3%); serial investor Arik Lukach (5.3%); and additional private investors. The company has raised $12.7 million to date. It lost $3.8 million in 2013 and $2.6 million in the first half of 2014.
PolyPid has developed an implant that facilitates regular delayed release of drugs into the bones. The product has applications in dentistry and in prevention of infections in compound bone fractures. The problem with the existing methods of delivering drugs to bones is the lack of blood flow to the bone, which means that an orally taken drug does not reach the bone in sufficient quantities.
At present, an drug release implant is usually inserted into the bone, but the release is usually only for a short time. If the infection persists, surgery must be performed again and again in order to reinsert the implant with the drug. PolyPid's technology combines polymers (plastic-like molecules) with lipids (fat molecules) to generate sustained delayed release of the drug.
The company is scheduled to begin clinical trials in the US and Europe in 2015 for the first and second generation of the product for treatment of bones. It hopes that the two products will reach the market in Europe in the first half of 2017.
Biomed issue market on Nasdaq still hot
If completed, PolyPid's offering will be the ninth by an Israeli biomedical company on Nasdaq. The first eight were by Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Nasdaq: GLMD), Lumenis Ltd. (Nasdaq: LMNS), MediWound Ltd. (Nasdaq:MDWD), Macrocure Ltd.(Nasdaq:MCUR), BioBlast Pharma Ltd.(Nasdaq:ORPN), VBL Therapeutics(Nasdaq:VBLX), ReWalk Robotics, and Foamix Pharmaceuticals, which raised an aggregate $379 million, and are now traded at an aggregate market cap of $1.27 billion. Also in the pipeline is NeuroDerm, which hopes to raise $65 million at a company value of $200-300 million.
The biomed offerings market on Nasdaq still appears hot, judging by September's activity, despite assertions of a bubble in this segment since the beginning of the year. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index has posted a 16% return since the beginning of the year, and has been moving up in recent days.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 19, 2014
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