vTv Therapeutics, which is focused on development of a treatment for Alzheimer’s, went public on the Nasdaq on Thursday. However, there was no opening-day “pop.”
Instead, share value collapsed,, plummeting 28 percent.
The company raised more than $117 million.
vTv shares are trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol VTVT.
The firm sold 7.8 million shares at $15 each.
Another 1.171 million shares are available to underwriters.
Whatever enthusiasm the company’s Alzheimer’s treatment and other potential drugs evaporated on the trading floor from the start with shares opening at $14. That was the high for the day.
More than 5 million shares traded, hitting a low of $10.71 before a small rally to close at $10.83.
Executives from vTv traveled to New York to ring the Nasdaq’s opening bell.
Funds will be used for the ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of “azeliragon” as well as other candidates.
vTv also is researching and testing a treatment for Type 2 diabetes.
Piper Jaffray & Co., Stifel Canaccord Genuity Inc. and Janney Montgomery Scott handled the IPO.
vTv is the result of a combination of two companies: TransTech Pharma (formed in 1998) and High Point Pharmaceuticals (formed by TransTech in 2008). The two firms had raised more than $500 million through private placements and collaborations with Novo Nordisk, Merck, Boehringher Ingelheim, Pfizer and Forest Laboratories. It’s majority owner is Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews.
