Bicara Therapeutics, Inc.

Septerna, a developer of medicines that target a ubiquitous family of proteins, on Thursday priced a $288 million initial public offering that again showed investors support of biotechnology companies that have reached clinical testing.The company sold 16 million shares at $18 apiece, slightly above the $15 to $17 range it had set in a securities filing Monday. It also sold substantially more shares than originally expected, having boosted its offerings size hours before pricing. Shares of SEPN will begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq stock exchange.Prior to joining Nasdaq, the California company raised more than $200 million in private funding. Its early backers included Third Rock Ventures and Samsara BioCapital, while RA Capital Management led a Series B round in 2023.GPCRs, or G protein-coupled receptors, are something of a cellular jack of all trades, involved in a range of biological functions like energy metabolism and immune regulation. They have therefore been a popular target for drugs, accounting by one estimate for about one-third of all approved medicines.But that research productivity appeared to have plateaued when Septerna launched in 2021 with plans to address problems researchers had in isolating GPCRs and design drugs that could bind them.Most of the success has been around a relatively small number of these GPCRs, Jeff Finer, Septernas CEO, told BioPharma Dive in early 2023. Theres hundreds more that could be potential therapeutic opportunities.Septernas lead drug candidate, dubbed SEP-786, targets a GPCR implicated in hypoparathyroidism. It entered human testing last month, and the company expects to report data in the middle of 2025.Hypoparathyroidism is currently treated with a mix of daily injections and high-dose calcium supplements. The company theorizes its small molecule drug could help people with the condition normalize their calcium and phosphate levels, which, when low, can lead to seizures and renal failure.In a securities filing, Septerna indicated it plans to use approximately $117 million of the IPO proceeds to advance SEP-786, and another $37 million developing another drug called SEP-631, for chronic spontaneous urticaria and other mast cell conditions.The last GPCR-focused biotech to go public was Structure Therapeutics, which raised $161 million in Feb. 2023. Since then, its share price has gyrated on updates from the company for an obesity drug its developing.Other GPCR drugmakers, including Escient Pharmaceuticals and Tectonic Therapeutic, have raised sizable funds, though not as much as Septerna or Structure. Escient was acquired by Incyte in April, while Tectonic went public through a reverse merger in June.September and October have been busy months for biotech IPOs, with eight companies now having priced offerings on Nasdaq. Bicara Therapeutics offering was the largest of that group, with $315 million in proceeds. Overall, its the most active two-month stretch for biotech IPOs since the start of the year, according to BioPharma Dive data.Though there are fewer opportunities compared to the heydays of 2020 and 2021, investors still have plenty of capital to go around, said Jordan Saxe, the senior managing director of listing services at Nasdaq.Every IPO is certainly dual tracked in this environment, so they're looking at not only the clinical outcome of commercial opportunity, but also, the M&A opportunity, Saxe said ahead of Septernas pricing.Septernas raise is the 23rd biotech IPO this year. '

iStock, beast01 Two biotechs set out for the public markets this week, with Upstream Bio raising $255 million for its inflammatory disease work, while CAMP4 Therapeutics picked up $75 million to develop RNA-targeting drugs. Two more companies jumped to the public markets to end the week, with inflammatory disease biotech Upstream Bio upsizing its offering for proceeds totaling $255 million while RNA outfit CAMP4 Therapeutics picked up $75 million. In the larger IPO, Upstream offered 15 million shares for $17 apiece, which began trading Friday morning under the ticker UPB, according to a Thursday press release. Upstream’s lead program is verekitug, also known as UPB-101, an antagonist targeting thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), which is known to be involved in the body’s inflammatory response. The therapy is currently in two Phase II trials for severe asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps. Upstream also plans to develop the therapy in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Earlier Phase I studies of verekitug showed a reduction in inflammatory biomarkers, rapid treatment effects and tolerability. Upstream is helmed by Rand Sutherland, who joined as CEO in April after serving in the same role at Seeker Biologics. Prior to that, he was president of Translate Bio, which was acquired by Sanofi. The second biotech to go out was CAMP4, which offered 6.8 million shares at $11 each for total proceeds of $75 million. Trading was expected to begin Friday under the ticker CAMP, according to a Friday press release . The CAMP4 team has had a busy month. The company signed an agreement with BioMarin on Oct. 1 to develop therapies that increase protein levels by targeting regulatory RNA sequences. Financial details were not disclosed, but CAMP4 was provided with an upfront fee, plus milestones and royalties down the line. CAMP4’s lead program is CMP-CPS-001, which is in Phase I development for urea cycle disorders. CMP-CPS-001 secured orphan drug status from the FDA in September and had previously held a rare pediatric disease tag as well. Another program, CMP-SYNGAP, is in preclinical development for SYNGAP1-related disorders, which are a group of central nervous system diseases. CAMP4 also has multiple programs in metabolic CNS and cardiovascular diseases in early development and discovery. IPO activity has picked up this fall, with several biotechs making the jump to Wall Street. Upstream and CAMP4 follow Bicara Therapeutics, Zenas BioPharma and MBX Biosciences, which together raised more than $700 million in September.

Regulatory RNA startup CAMP4 Therapeutics has inked another collaboration deal as it prepares for an initial public offering. The Cambridge, MA-based startup has lined up a pact with BioMarin to create RNA-targeting antisense oligonucleotides, or ASOs, the companies said Tuesday morning. The deal comes with just $1 million upfront, but as much as $370 million in potential future payments if BioMarin goes all the way through commercialization with two programs, according to an earlier SEC filing . For BioMarin, it lets the company put a small bet on new technology after recently trimming its pipeline , cutting workers and changing leadership . CAMP4 unveiled its IPO ambitions on Sept. 20, and it could price and start trading within the next few weeks. The startup, which emerged in 2018, had tie-ups with Alnylam and Biogen in its early days, but those agreements were scrapped as CAMP4 shifted from a focus on bioinformatics to restoring gene expression through regulatory RNAs. It has since forged a license and discovery agreement with Fulcrum Therapeutics and an R&D pact for up to three ASOs with Eli Lilly. The company is currently in Phase 1 with a CPS1-targeting experimental drug for urea cycle disorders. It expects initial data in the first quarter of next year. The experimental medicine, dubbed CMP-CPS-001, has orphan drug and rare pediatric disease tags from the FDA. The 64-employee biotech is in the IPO queue alongside respiratory biotech Upstream Bio . If they follow through with their Nasdaq listings, they’d tack onto a relatively busy fall of debuts from Bicara, Zenas, MBX and BioAge .