Three Companies File IPOs To Help Further Their Business
September 1, 2015
By Andrew Hoglund

The Medical Device/Biotech field is constantly expanding, with new companies popping up every day. Once these companies get big enough, they generally will begin to consider going public with an IPO. A number of companies decided to file for an IPO last week, among them being Mirna, CytomX, and Acelity. These three companies are hoping that they can raise money through the IPO and then use that money to further produce/market their products.

Mirna is filing to raise up to $80.5 million in order to advance its tumor suppressor MRX34 into Phase II. Mirna has some big name investors supporting it, namely Baxalta, Celgene, and Pfizer. MRX34, the only of Mirna’s assets to enter the clinic, is a double-stranded RNA mimic of miR-34, a tumor suppressor. Mirna has encapsulated the RNA in a nanoparticle, resulting in a formulation it thinks can trigger immune responses that kill cancer cells. Mirna, which raked in $41.8 million in a Series D round in April, will pump most of the anticipated IPO haul into wrapping up Phase I and II trials of MRX34, plus preclinical work looking at new indications and combinations for the drug.

CytomX is looking for $100 million in its IPO to help further along its projects. CytomX has a long lineup of preclinical projects in the pipeline, but nothing that’s reached humans yet. The biotech’s new lead program is for PD-L1, targeting the darling of the immuno-oncology space, which has been focused on dismantling the barrier between cancer cells and T cell attackers. However, the company’s CX-072 won’t be ready for an IND filing until at least the second half of 2016. The company believes it has the inside track at a new and better technology than some of its opponents, like Roche and AstraZeneca.

Acelity is in a very interesting scenario, deciding to file its IPO for $100 million. Many people on Wall Street believe the number is a placeholder, and that the actual amount will be close to $1 billion. Acelity generates substantial revenue, but it’s not profitable. In the first half of 2015, Acelity had $905.7 million in revenues, with an operating loss of $22.2 million during that period. Private equity players took wound care company Kinetic Concepts private in a $5 billion buyout in 2011. Then these investors rolled in wound care peer Systagenix for $485 million in October 2013. The company has been loaded up with debt, with the most recent figure at $4.8 billion. It said it would use some of the IPO financing to help with the debt. So Acelity isn’t your normal small company that is just entering the public market. It has been around for some time, and will most likely make a fair amount of money from this IPO.

These three companies are all looking to add money to better their company, and they are going to go public to do it. Mirna is looking to move its frontline drug, MRX34, into Phase II, CytomX is planning on using the money to help support all its projects in getting to human trials, and Acelity is hoping to use the money it makes from the IPO to help pay down some of its debt. All in all, these companies are hoping to do big things with the money they make from these IPOs.