Viking Therapeutics, which is developing drugs to speed hip fracture recovery and treat various metabolic disorders, raised $24 million by offering 3 million shares at $8, within the range of $7 to $9. It previously expected to raise $20 million by offering 2.5 million shares.
The biotech now commands a market value of $73 million. It originally set terms to raise $55 million at a $168 million market cap in September 2014, but postponed the offering. It came back in early April with a new lead indication for hip recovery.
Viking's candidates are based on small molecules licensed from primary shareholder Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: LGND).
Insiders planned to invest up to $9 million on the offering (38% of the float).
Viking Therapeutics plans to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol VKTX. Viking Therapeutics initially filed confidentially on May 22, 2014. Laidlaw & Company (UK) acted as a lead manager on the deal, with Feltl as co-manager.
