Aktis Oncology (AKTS) priced its recently upsized IPO at $18.00 – the top of its $16.00-to-$18.00 range – and sold 17.65 million shares – the number of shares in the prospectus – to raise $317.7 million on Thursday night, Jan. 8, 2026. The stock of Aktis Oncology jumped in its NASDAQ debut – opening at $27.00 – up 50 percent from its IPO price – at 11:14 a.m. EST on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. Volume on that opening trade was nearly 409,000 shares. At Friday’s closing bell, Aktis Oncology was at $22.40 – up $4.40 from its $18.00 IPO price for a first-day gain of 24.44 percent in its NASDAQ debut. Volume totaled about 3.1 million shares.
Eli Lilly and Company, an existing stockholder with a collaboration agreement with Aktis Oncology, had indicated an interest in buying $100 million of stock in the IPO.
At pricing, Aktis Oncology had a market cap of $945.5 million.
J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, Leerink Partners and TD Cowen served as the joint book-runners.
Aktis Oncology upsized its IPO by 50 percent yesterday – to raise about $300.05 million – up from $200.18 million under the original terms – according to an S-1/A filing dated Jan. 7, 2026. .
Eli Lilly’s indication of interest in buying $100 million of stock in Aktis Oncology’s IPO made players sit up and take notice of this deal, the IPO pros say.
The Boston-based cancer biotech intends to use most of the IPO’s proceeds to fund clinical trials for its two leading drug candidates – Ac-AKY-1189 to treat advanced or metastatic bladder cancer tumors that express Nectin-4, a protein, and Ac-AKY-2519 to treat solid tumors that express B7-H3, a protein found in many types of cancer, including prostate cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer, according to the prospectus. Both leading drug candidates are radiopharmaceutical drugs. (Incorporated in Delaware)
Aktis Oncology is not profitable, according to financial statements in the prospectus: The company reported a net loss of $60.65 million on revenue of $5.56 million for the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, 2025.
(For more information about this company, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profile found on the IPOScoop.com website.)
Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board.
To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message.
Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.