Dive Brief:
- Gene therapy firm ReGenX is reportedly planning a $100 million IPO as it aims to move beyond licensing arrangements with other biopharma companies and into in-house development. ReGenX plans to focus first on a gene therapy treatment for homozygous familial hypertension.
- ReGenX Bio will be listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker "RGNX."
- The company, which is based in Maryland, is the source of the core technology used by many biotech companies to develop their gene therapies.
Dive Insight:
ReGenX is moving into the IPO fray at a time when biotech is booming and shows no signs of waning. The company will be joining others which recently floated IPO deals, including Global Blood Therapeutics, Aimmune Therapeutics and Zynerba Pharmaceuticals. Based on the success of its partnering history with high-profile gene therapy companies, such as Voyager Therapeutics and Dimension Therapeutics, ReGenX has a good shot of bringing real value to the deal.
In addition to developing a gene therapy for hypercholesterolemia, ReGenX will also be working on a treatment for the rare disease, Hurler Syndrome, as well as wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The key to this company's succes shas been their NAV platform, which has been vetted in numerous development projects. The upside of this history is that the company has had an opportunity to optimize the platform based on its learnings from deals with other biotechs, and is now positioned for launching successful gene-therapy development programs in key therapeutic areas.