IPO Filing: Peplin (PLIN)

Today was an interesting IPO filing for a company called Peplin, Inc., a subsidiary of Peplin Limited in Australia.  There will be somewhat of a dual listing and if you want to look up some historical data on the parent company it has been public in Australia for some time.  It trades under the "PEP" ticker in Australia.

The company has filed to raise $75 million via equity sales and will list on NASDAQ under the ticker "PLIN."  The underwriting group is fairly impressive with underwriters being listed as Merrill Lynch, Cowen & Co., Thomas Weisel, Leerink Swann, and Wilson HTM.

Peplin is still a development stage company, but it is one you will want to watch if you believe that actinic keratosis (‘AK’)and ultimately skin cancer are going to be secular growth opportunities for the companies that can treat them.  The company may have other indicated uses as well, but AK is the first and foremost focus.  The company has completed Phase IIb trials with three different dosages, and the company believes its lead candidate is safe and well tolerated, as well has having a statistically significant and clinically meaningful lesion clearance by all measures evaluated and at all doses studied.

Here is the rest of the story and a more clear explanation of the full company from the prospectus filing or you can visit the company’s website at www.peplin.com.

Jon C. Ogg
August 9, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.