Selecta Biosciences Files for IPO: Targeting Gout

Health and Healthcare

Published: May 24, 2016 4:27 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 7:37 am

Selecta Biosciences has filed its paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) ahead. The company applied to list its common stock on The Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol SELB. No formal terms have been set, but the filing’s nominal amount is for up to $75,000,000. What matters here is that Selecta is targeting gout in a new manner and as an untreated target.

Selecta’s underwriters were identified as UBS Investment Bank and Stifel as the lead underwriters, with co-managers in the syndicate listed as Canaccord Genuity and Needham & Company.

24/7 Wall St. looked over the overview of this company, and it is a pre-revenue company — technically a clinical-stage biopharma outfit. Selecta said that it has a proprietary synthetic vaccine particle technology to discover and develop targeted therapies that are designed to modulate the immune system to effectively and safely treat rare and serious diseases.

The company said:

Our proprietary SVP technology encapsulates an immunomodulator in biodegradable nanoparticles to induce antigen-specific immune tolerance to mitigate the formation of ADAs in response to life-sustaining biologic drugs. We believe our SVP technology has the potential for broad applications to both enhance existing biologic drugs and enable novel therapies.

Its lead product candidate is SEL-212, a combination of a therapeutic enzyme and SVP technology designed to be the first biologic treatment for gout that durably controls uric acid in refractory gout and dissolves and removes harmful deposits of uric acid crystals in chronic tophaceous gout. The company said that each is a painful and debilitating disease with unmet medical need, and if you ask anyone who has had gout they will confirm this. The company’s release further said:

Based on preliminary data from our ongoing Phase 1b clinical trial, we believe that SEL-212 has the potential to control serum uric acid levels for at least 30 days after a single dose by mitigating the formation of ADAs in response to the therapeutic enzyme. We expect to receive final data from both Phase 1 clinical trials and initiate the Phase 2 clinical trial in the second half of 2016.

The use of proceeds are to support the clinical development of SEL-212, including SEL-212’s Phase 2 clinical trial. Also noted was that the company will fund preclinical studies for its gene therapy program; and it also said that it would fund the further advancement of its gene therapy program as well as other potential future development programs. Selecta said:

We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to in-license, acquire, or invest in additional businesses, technologies, products or assets, although currently we have no specific agreements, commitments or understandings in this regard…. As a result, our management will retain broad discretion over the allocation of the net proceeds from this offering.