$90m IPO Sets Up Sweden's Calliditas For Phase III Readout
Biotech Sector Listings Defying Pandemic
Executive Summary
The Stockholm-headquartered company has exceeded expectations with its IPO, and now faces the ‘big reveal’ for its lead asset Nefecon.
Swedish specialist pharma company Calliditas Therapeutics AB has exceeded expectations by raising $90m in an upsized initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ exchange.
The flotation is a success for the company, which had been aiming to raise $75m with the IPO. The funds will help bankroll what it hopes will be the eventual launch of its renal disease therapy candidate.
The US listing comes ahead of a Phase III readout for the company’s lead asset, Nefecon, a targeted-release budesonide formulation for inflammatory renal disease IgA nephropathy (IgAN).
Calliditas expects to file for accelerated or conditional approval in the US and Europe later this year based on the ongoing Phase III efficacy study evaluating Nefecon for IgAN, an orphan chronic autoimmune disease also known as Berger's disease. (Also see "‘Follow The Money’: Sweden’s Calliditas Plans US Listing" - Scrip, 20 May, 2020.)
The company was formed in 2004 in order to develop and commercialize Nefecon, which was acquired from Nefecon’s inventors, professors Bengt Fellström and Roger Hällgren at Uppsala University, Sweden.
CEO Renee Aguiar Lucander
CEO Renee Aguiar Lucander told Scrip last month that the company’s plan is to keep its headquarters, R&D and corporate strategy in Sweden, but that the US would become the focus for its sales and market access activity.
Calliditas says it will use the net proceeds from the IPO to fund its ongoing Phase III trial and related trials of Nefecon, and development of additional product candidates.
The IPO puts the Stockholm-headquartered company alongside 14 other life sciences companies which have launched on the Nasdaq so far in 2020, which has seen the sector buck the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. (Also see "Targeting Exciting Inflammasome Field, NodThera Raises $55m" - Scrip, 3 Jun, 2020.)
The NASDAQ flotation is also significant as it is the first from a European biotech this year, and the first of any Swedish company on the US exchange in 15 years.