Cambridge, MA-based Radius Health, which is on a quest to enter the multibillion-dollar market for osteoporosis treatments, said today it has filed to go public. The company hopes to raise $86 million in the proposed offering. The IPO will be underwritten by UBS Investment Bank and Leerink Swann, and co-managed by Cowen and Company and Rodman & Renshaw.
Radius’s lead compound, BA058, is a new type of “anabolic,” or bone-building, drug. In early trials, patients have re-grown bone with little risk of developing hypercalcemia, a dangerous overload of calcium that can result from current treatments. If the drug proves effective in pivotal trials, which the company is running now, it could become a major contender in a very large market. A recent study by Global Industry Analysts of San Jose estimated that the annual market for osteoporosis treatments will reach $8.8 billion by 2015.
The current iteration of Radius’s drug is an injection, but the company is working on a more convenient dosing option—a patch it’s developing in a collaboration with 3M (NYSE: [[ticker:MMM]]). Using 3M’s “microneedle” technology, Radius developed a patch containing 360 tiny needles that deliver a full dose in about 15 minutes.
Radius last made news in May, when it raised a staggering $91 million and merged with an unlisted shell company in preparation for an IPO. The company’s investors include MPM Capital, BB Biotech Ventures, MPM Bio IV NVS Strategic Fund, the Wellcome Trust, HealthCare Ventures, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, BB Biotech, Brookside Capital, Saints Capital, Nordic Bioscience, and Ipsen Pharma.
