Pfenex, which is developing a version of Roche's Lucentis treatment for wet AMD, announced terms for its IPO on Monday. The San Diego, CA-based company plans to raise $65 million by offering 5.0 million shares at a price range of $12 to $14. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Pfenex would command a fully diluted market value of $198 million.
Lucentis generates over $4.3 billion annually for Roche (OTC: RHHBY), which manufactures and sells the drug in the US, and Novartis (NYSE: NVS), which markets it outside the country. Pfenex is also developing candidates for other high-value protein therapeutics.
Pfenex, which was spun out of Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) in 2009 and booked $11 million in collaboration revenue for the 12 months ended March 31, 2014, plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol PFNX. It initially filed confidentially on May 5, 2014. William Blair and JMP Securities are the joint bookrunners on the deal.
