Parabilis Medicines has secured the largest initial public offering (IPO) in biotech history, suggesting that an uptick of upsized public listings in the sector shows no signs of slowing.
Parabilis, a US biotech specialising in cancer therapies, has offered 33.5 million shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $20 apiece. This brings the company’s total proceeds to $670m – a record for a biotech IPO. The value could swell by a further $100m more if underwriters exercise their option to purchase an additional 5 million shares at $20 each.
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The Massachusetts-based biotech, which listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker “PBLS” on 10 June, has outperformed market expectations. Originally, Parabilis expected a raise of $476m upon the initial unveiling of listing plans, but this was amended to $553m earlier this week amid high investor anticipation. The $670m raise means the IPO has exceeded forecasts.
Parabilis is pioneering a new type of peptides that it calls “Helicons”. These are stabilised helical peptides engineered to bind and precisely modulate proteins that the company says have historically been beyond the reach of conventional medicines.
The company’s lead product is zolucatetide, which targets the interaction between b-catenin and the T-cell factor family of transcription factors. This signalling pathway regulates cell proliferation and differentiation, but its hyperactivation drives cancer. Parabilis is confident in the drug’s early data, highlighting tumour reductions in 100% of patients with a 74% objective response rate in patients with desmoid tumours.
In May, the company entered into a $2.3bn collaboration and development agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to jointly explore novel oncology targets using the Helicon peptide platform.
Around $150m of the IPO raise will be used to continue the ongoing clinical development of zolucatetide in desmoid tumors, including continuation of dose expansion and the initiation of a Phase III trial. A further $120m will be used to investigate zolucatetide in other indications, such as rare tumours and a type of liver cancer.
The rest of the biotech’s early-stage pipeline, which includes ERG, ARON, and ß-catenin degraders, will benefit from a $190m tranche. Any remaining funds have been earmarked for advancement of the Helicon platform and general corporate expenses.
Biotechs crowd stock exchanges
Parabilis’ IPO comes just two months after Kailera Therapeutics – a biotech developing obesity therapies – secured $625m in a US listing. At the time, this was the largest IPO in biotech history, meaning the record has been broken twice in as many months.
Also in April, Seaport Therapeutics and Hemab Therapeutics outlined pricings for their respective IPOs. Neuropsychiatric specialist Seaport raised $255m, while Hemab – developing drugs for bleeding disorders – raised around $347m.
Eikon Therapeutics and Akis Oncology had already set a strong tone for the year, raising $381m and $318m, respectively, in January.
The value of IPOs so far this year suggests the sector is winning the battle against macroeconomic policy shifts in the US. However, it remains to be seen if a drought materialises in the middle of the year, akin to 2025.
