Apparently, the chilly market conditions that derailed Radius Health’s IPO a few weeks ago have warmed up.
Just 12 days after postponing a $75 million IPO—the second time it has pulled a stock offering since 2012—the Cambridge, MA-based company late Wednesday stepped back into the queue once again. Radius still has the same underwriters—Cowen & Co., Jefferies, Canaccord Genuity, and Cantor Fitzgerald—and would trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “RDUS” should it finally go public.
Radius appeared to be the latest victim of a cooling IPO market for biotechs. The company cited “poor market conditions” when withdrawing its offering on May 9, following a string of flat offerings in the sector—a big change from the sizzling market in 2013 and early 2014 that bestowed big valuations on many companies that had yet to even put a drug prospect into clinical trials. Radius had been looking to sell 5 million shares at between $14 and $16 apiece.
The company, however, has decided to give it another shot. Though Radius hasn’t provided any specific pricing information as of yet, its latest prospectus indicates that it’s looking to raise at least $57 million given how it plans to use the IPO dollars. The company aims to use most of the cash, some $44 million, to wrap up a Phase 3 study of its injectable osteoporosis drug, abaloparatide-SC, and submit applications to regulators in the U.S. and Europe. Radius said that on May 9, it asked the FDA for a “breakthrough therapy” designation for abaloparatide-SC for women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Such a designation would speed up the FDA’s review of the drug.
Meanwhile, Radius would use another $8 million to continue developing a skin-patch version of the osteoporosis drug, abaloparatide-TD; and an additional $5 million to take a preclinical drug candidate, RAD1901, into its first clinical trial. RAD1901 was originally developed for menopausal hot flashes, but Radius now aims to move it forward as a cancer drug—specifically, to treat breast cancer brain metastases, or “BCBM.”
Radius’ largest shareholders, as of its latest prospectus, are: MPM Capital (26.5 percent stake), F2 Biosciences III (19.1 percent), CC Consulting (16.5 percent), Biotech Growth NV (8.0 percent), The Wellcome Trust (7.5 percent), Brookside Capital Partners Fund (6.4 percent), BB Biotech Ventures (6.3 percent), and HealthCare Ventures VII (6.0 percent).
Those holdings have shifted around a bit—Nordic Bioscience, for instance, held a nearly 13 percent stake when Radius filed its S-1 in February. Saints Capital also owned 5.1 percent of Radius. Neither are listed among Radius’ top shareholders in the latest filing.
Radius was formed in 2003 as Nuvios, and changed its name in 2005 after acquiring abaloparatide from France’s Ipsen. The drug is designed to work in the same way that Eli Lilly’s teriparatide (Forteo): it’s an anabolic drug that builds up the bones, rather than simply stopping them from decaying more than they already have. Radius has been trying to prove its drug is superior to teriparatide, and is running a big Phase 3 trial pitting the two therapies head-to-head. Top-line results are expected later this year.
Radius has also been through an executive shakeup over the past year, and as Xconomy reported in December, recently pushed the timeline for its skin patch therapy back by about two years.
