The first week of November has brought the first taste of winter to much of the U.S., plenty of sunshine to California, and a flurry of IPOs. There have been three so far on the West Coast, the main story of what’s been a slow week otherwise. The pace will pick up today and tomorrow as scientists, investors, and journalists sift through the just-released abstracts from next month’s American Society of Hematology conference. We’ll round those up in a separate post, but for now let’s see what’s been cooking out West.
—Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:XENE]]) a Burnaby, BC-based developer of pain medication based on genetic profiles, priced an initial public offering of its shares Tuesday, grossing $36 million by selling 4 million shares at $9 apiece.
—Nevro (NYSE: [[ticker:NVRO]]) of Menlo Park, CA, raised $126 million in its IPO Wednesday, selling 7 million shares at $18 each. The firm is awaiting an FDA decision on approval of its electrical implant to relieve leg and back pain.
—Coherus Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CHRS]]), a Redwood City, CA, developer of biosimilar therapeutics—off-patent versions of best-selling drugs such as etanercept (Enbrel) and adalimumab (Humira)—raised $85 million in an IPO Thursday.
–Wireless Diagnostic Systems, a San Diego startup developing patient monitoring devices with technology from the Caltech lab of Axel Scherer, raised $500,000 from Domain Associates.
—Digital health seed funder and incubator Rock Health of San Francisco said Monday it has raised its third fund with an undisclosed amount of capital. With the fund, Rock Health will be able to support its portfolio companies with up to $250,000 each, the firm said.
—Carlsbad, CA-based International Stem Cell said the FDA has cleared its human parthenogenetic stem cell line for use in investigational clinical applications. The green light brings the firm one step closer toward development of a stem cell-based therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
—San Diego’s ViaCyte said Thursday it has received a U.S. patent covering its methods of “manufacturing human pancreatic progenitor cells from definitive endoderm cells.” The company expects data in early 2015 from its Phase 1/2 trial of its VC-01 cell therapy for Type 1 diabetes.
Xconomy San Diego Editor Bruce V. Bigelow contributed to this report.
