Day One Biopharmaceuticals isn’t wasting any time. Just two days after doubling shares on the news that its pediatric brain tumor drug helped patients, the biotech is circling up to raise some cash with an upsized $150 million public offering.
The biotech unveiled data for tovorafenib on Monday. Despite the small dataset—22 patients in the ongoing phase 2 Firefly-1 clinical trial—the overall response rate of 64% was enough to send the biotech’s shares skyrocketing 109% to $13.82.
Now, Day One has embarked on a public offering—almost exactly a year after initially going public with a $184 million IPO. This round has already been upsized by $25 million from the initial $125 million and is set to close on or near June 17.
Day One is not the only biotech hitting up public markets for cash after a positive data drop, despite a difficult bear market and other challenges hitting biotechs across the board. Rezolute in May linked its congenital hyperinsulinism candidate to a 75% reduction in severe low blood sugar events in children, emboldening it to raise $130 million to support a push into phase 3.
For Day One, a biotech founded to tackle the lack of treatment options in pediatric cancer, the Firefly-1 trial is appearing to live up to the namesake. The trial assessed tovorafenib—in-licensed from Takeda—as a therapy for relapsed/progressive pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG), the most common brain tumor diagnosed in children. With no approved therapies for pLGG, current treatment approaches have been tied to significant acute and life-long adverse effects, the company said.
As well as the overall response rate, the initial data from the trial's first 22 patients found a clinical benefit rate—defined as a partial response or unconfirmed partial response plus stable disease—in 91% of participants. The median time-to-response was 2.8 months, the company said.
Full top-line results from the ongoing trial are expected in the first quarter of next year, and if the data support it, Day One hopes to submit an application for approval to the FDA in the first half of 2023. The biotech is also evaluating tovorafenib in a mid-stage trial for in solid tumors.