Antivirals company Chimerix’s initial public offering is a go.
The Research Triangle Park company this morning went public at $14 per share, the midpoint of the $13-$15 range that the company had proposed.
Chimerix is trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol CMRX.
Chimerix is offering all of the 7.3 million shares, which is some 20 percent more than the company previously planned. The company had planned to sell 6.1 million shares, raising $105 million.
Aisling Capital has agreed to purchase $15 million of shares on the IPO. Morgan Stanley and Cowen and Company are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. William Blair and Lazard Capital Markets are acting as co-managers.
The underwriters have 30 days to purchase up to an additional 1 million shares of common stock to cover over allotments, if any. The offering is expected to close on April 16.
Chimerix plans to use proceeds from the offering for research and development, particularly for its lead compound which set to start phase III clinical trials this year. The compound, CMX001 is being studied as a way to prevent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. This infection that can severely sicken patients with already compromised immune systems.
Chimerix has completed phase II clinical trials studying CMX001 as a way of preventing CMV in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant procedures. CMX001 has been placed on the Food and Drug Administration’s “fast track,” a designation reserved for new drugs that address serious diseases that have few, if any, treatments.
