The IPO Buzz: Mineralys Therapeutics Prices Upsized IPO at $16.00 – High End

Up is the word of the day. Mineralys Therapeutics (MLYS) priced its upsized IPO at $16.00 – the top of its $14.00-to-$16.00 range – on 12.0 million shares – up from 10.0 million shares in the prospectus – tonight (Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023) to raise $192 million. The 20 percent increase in the biotech IPO’s size and the pricing at the high end of the range are in keeping with the trend this week. Solar tracking company Nextracker, Inc. (NXT) upsized its IPO and priced the deal $1.00 above the top of its range on Wednesday night (Feb. 8, 2023). Hesai Group (HSAI), the Cayman Islands parent of a leading Chinese LiDAR company, upsized its IPO and priced the deal at the top of its range on Wednesday night (Feb. 8, 2023). Both Nextracker and Hesai did well in their NASDAQ trading debuts today.

Shares of Mineralys Therapeutics are expected to start trading Friday (Feb. 10, 2023) on the NASDAQ.

BofA Securities, Evercore ISI,  Stifel, Guggenheim Securities, Credit Suisse and Wells Fargo Securities were the joint book-runners of Mineralys Therapeutics’ IPO.

The Mineralys IPO gained momentum in the wake of Structure Therapeutics’ (GPCR) successful IPO last Friday (Feb. 3, 2023).

Mineralys Therapeutics, based in the Philadelphia suburb of Radnor, is developing its lead drug candidate, MLS-101 or lorundrostat, as a pill for people with uncontrolled or resistant hypertension. People with those conditions are 1.8 to 2.5 times more likely at risk of dying from either cardiovascular disease or stroke, the prospectus says.

Mineralys licensed its leading drug candidate, lorundrostat, from Mitsubishi Tanabe in July 2020 before starting a Phase 1 trial in early 2022. A Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial was completed in 2022, the prospectus says. IPO proceeds would be used to fund a Phase 3 trial, which CEO Jon Congleton told Endpoints News that he would like to start during the first half of 2023.

The company’s leading drug candidate, lorundrostat, is intended to inhibit the steroid hormone called aldosterone. Elevated levels of aldosterone can cause hypertension. High aldosterone levels can also play a role in severe heart disease and kidney disease. Mineralys Therapeutics says it plans to eventually develop MLS-101, also known as lorundrostat, as a treatment for chronic kidney disease.

Several large pharma companies have tried to develop aldosterone synthase inhibitors (ASIs) without success, the Mineralys prospectus says.

Biotech investment firm Catalys Pacific founded Mineralys Therapeutics in 2019. Catalys is Mineralys Therapeutics’ biggest shareholder with a pre-IPO stake of 33.1 percent.

Catalys Pacific participated in a $118 million Series B funding round in early June 2022, which was led by RA Capital Management and Andera Partners, Fierce Biotech reported. That funding helped finance the Phase 2 clinical trial in 2022.

In addition to founder Catalys Pacific and RA Capital Management, Mineralys Therapeutics’ principal stockholders include Samsara BioCapital, HBM Healthcare Investments and Adams Street Partners, the prospectus says.  

Like most biotechs that go public, Mineralys Therapeutics has no revenues and no profits.

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