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UPDATED: Bankers Reveal Top Biotech IPO Contenders; New Filer Ironwood Among Them

By Trista Morrison | Nov 23, 2009

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals filed for an initial public offering today, a move that several biotech investors had previously predicted.

Ironwood, formerly known as Microbia, reported good data earlier this month from two Phase III trials of linaclotide for chronic constipation. The drug, which is in two more pivotal trials for irritable bowel syndrome, has attracted partnering deals with Forest Laboratories for in the U.S. and Laboratorios Almirall in Europe. Analysts predict peak annual sales upward of $500 million.

Looking to raise $173 million, Ironwood is the sixth biotech to join the U.S. IPO queue in the current window. Ready and waiting are antibiotic company Trius Therapeutics, ophthalmology player Alimera Sciences, cardiovascular company Anthera Pharmaceuticals, stem cell developer Aldagen, and diagnostic/specialty firm Prometheus Laboratories. Also, Johnson & Johnson spin-out Movetis is planning an IPO in Europe.

Who’s up next? A few bankers and venture capitalists picked the following as likely biotech IPO filers (they picked Ironwood too, and they were right on that one):

  • Portola Pharmaceuticals – a well-funded biotech boasting a $575 million deal with Novartis for the Phase II antiplatelet drug elinogrel and a $470 million deal with Merck for the Phase II anticoagulant betrixaban
  • Pacific Biosciences – made a big splash last year with a $100 million venture round for its DNA sequencing technology
  • Regulus Therapeutics – the mRNA love-child of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Isis Pharmaceuticals
  • Concert Pharmaceuticals – signed a billion-dollar deal with summer with GlaxoSmithKline for deuterium-modified compounds
  • Macrogenics – its own antibodies are nearing late-stage, and it picked up some hot cancer stem cell technology by acquiring Raven Biotechnologies
  • AVEO Pharmaceuticals - its next-gen VEGF inhibitor for kideny cancer is said to be stirring partnership interest (thanks to reader Kingrim for the tip)

Anyone else have predictions?

Tags: Pharmaceutical Company, Stem-cell, Biotechnology, IPO, Financial Services, Finance, Trista Morrison

Trista Morrison is a staff writer at BioWorld Today, a daily newspaper that's been covering the biotech industry about as long as there's been a biotech industry to cover.

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  • Ironwood Raises $188 Million in IPO After Cutting Price by 30%

    BusinessWeek - 6 days 22 hours 41 minutes ago

    Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is developing a drug to treat constipation, raised $188 million in its initial public offering today after selling shares at a discount of as much as 30 percent to the price sought.The company, backed by Morgan Stanley, New York-based Ridgeback Capital Management LLC and Polaris Venture...

  • Ironwood's I.P.O. Disappoints

    New York Times - 5 days 12 hours 35 minutes ago

    February 4, 2010, 6:19 am It may have been one of the most anticipated initial public offerings of a biotechnology stock in years, but Ironwood Pharmaceuticals‘ debut on the public markets was unconvincing, The Boston Globe says. Ironwood raised $188 million following a deeply discounted I.P.O. The company, which is...

  • Ironwood Raises 30% Less in Biggest U.S. IPO Price Cut of 2010

    BusinessWeek - 6 days 13 hours 45 minutes ago

    Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. raised 30 percent less than the drugmaker sought for its initial public offering in the biggest price cut for a U.S. IPO this year.Ironwood, which is developing a treatment for chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome, sold 16.7 million Class A shares at $11.25 each yesterday,...

  • Can Anthera whet investors' appetite for biotech IPOs?

    FierceBiotech - 146 days 9 hours 27 minutes ago

    In a fresh sign that biotech IPOs have begun a long-awaited revival, Anthera Pharmaceuticals has filed to sell $70 million of shares in a new initial public offering. Talecris' move to launch its IPO yesterday came after a frustrated merger attempt for a company with 4,763 workers and major protein therapy manufacturing operations in...

  • DotW: IPO Medicine

    The In Vivo Blog - 3 days 7 hours 55 minutes ago

    The big news this week for early stage biotechs and their VC backers: The IPO Window is Officially Open!Or maybe not.As my colleague Alex Lash describes in this week's issue of "The Pink Sheet", Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' $188 million IPO is the proverbial elephant among the blind men. How you perceived it, depended upon where you touched...

 
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  •  
    1

    Kingrim

    11/28/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Bankers Reveal Top Biotech IPO Contenders; New Filer Ironwood Among Them

    Aveo in Cambridge is a likely candidate as well

  •  
    2

    Trista Morrison

    12/09/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Bankers Reveal Top Biotech IPO Contenders; New Filer Ironwood Among Them

    Thanks for the tip - I added them to the list above.

  •  
    3

    Inov8

    01/15/10 | Report as spam

    RE: Bankers Reveal Top Biotech IPO Contenders; New Filer Ironwood Among The

    What about Chemocentryx (Mountain View, CA)? They have an
    impressive pipleine, with several compounds in Phase I - III
    clinical trials, and their alliance with GSK has just taken yet
    another step forward, with GSK exercising an option to license
    the former's Traficet-EN? exclusively.

    My main concern is that Chemocentryx filed for an IPO in late
    2007, and then canceled (as the economic crisis took hold).

    Thoughts?

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