BioAge Labs is eyeing around $180 million in initial proceeds from an IPO and a private placement, funds the metabolic-focused biotech will use to push its lead obesity prospect through the clinic.
The Eli Lilly-partnered biotech revealed its intention earlier this month to go public but only put some numbers to those plans in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this morning. BioAge is looking to sell 10.5 million shares priced between $17 and $19 apiece.
Alongside the public offering, Sofinnova Investments—one of BioAge’s existing shareholders—is expected to buy $10.6 million worth of the biotech’s stock in a private placement.
Assuming a final share price of $18, the IPO and the private placement should bring in a combined $180.6 million in net proceeds. The number will rise to $207 million if underwriters fully take up an offer to buy an additional 1.57 million shares at the same price.
Top of the list of spending priorities for the proceeds will be lead candidate azelaprag, an orally delivered small molecule that is undergoing a phase 2 weight loss trial in combination with Lilly’s obesity med Zepbound. A midstage trial evaluating azelaprag in combination with Novo Nordisk’s own approved obesity drug Wegovy is slated to begin in the first half of next year.
Azelaprag, which can be given orally or intravenously, was licensed from Amgen in 2021.
Cash from the IPO will also be used to start manufacturing the drug product needed for phase 3 studies of the candidate and for preparations to take BioAge’s preclinical NLRP3 inhibitor toward human studies to treat neuroinflammation.
BioAge will be following the likes of Bicara Therapeutics and Zenas Biopharma in a renewed wave of biotech IPOs that picked up in late summer.
When BioAge outlined its IPO ambitions in early September, Kazi Helal, Ph.D., senior biotech analyst at PitchBook, told Fierce Biotech that the offering “could serve as a bellwether for the sector.”
“As a phase 2 biotech entering the public market, BioAge will face increased scrutiny while navigating clinical trials and regulatory approvals,” Helal said at the time. “However, the current market enthusiasm for obesity treatments may provide a favorable environment for their debut.”
Editor's note: This article was updated at 2:30 p.m. ET to clarify the name of a BioAge shareholder.