DURHAM, N.C. – Scynexis is looking to go public.
In a new securities filing on Wednesday, Scynexis is targeting the sale of 4.2 million shares of stock at between $12 and $14 per share with a goal of raising up to $68.1 million. Scynexis would have purportedly 15.7 million shares outstanding after an IPO.
The $68 million figure factors in shares available to underwriters and is calculated to determine a registration fee with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Durham drug-development company doesn’t yet have a drug on the market. The company had $1.4 million in cash as of Dec. 31, according to reports, and has earmarked $15 million of the proceeds from an IPO to pay down a loan.
Some of the privately-held company’s shareholders remain interested in purchasing up to $4 million worth of IPO shares and French pharmaceutical company Sanofi (currently a 6 percent owner of Scynexis) is interested in purchasing up to $5 million, according to the filing.
Scynexis is a pharmaceutical committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel anti-infectives to address significant unmet therapeutic needs. Their lead product candidate, SCY-078, is deemed by the company as a novel oral and intravenous drug for the treatment of serious and life-threatening invasive fungal infections in humans. They also have clinical and preclinical programs based on the use of cyclophilin inhibitors to treat viral diseases.
Scynexis originally partnered with drug giant Merck in 2002 to develop and commercialize SCY-078. Merck chose to return it to Scynexis last year.
According to filings, Scynexis generated $16.9 million in revenue last year from performing R&D services for other companies with a net loss in 2013 recorded at $30.5 million.
If the IPO is successful, Scynexis would join a growing number of Triangle firms – especially biotechs – that have gone public in the last year. (Check out WRALTechWire’s IPO Watch report.)
