Replimune Closes in on IPO

Health and Healthcare

Published: July 10, 2018 11:20 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 9:14 pm

Replimune Group has registered an amended S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its initial public offering (IPO). The company intends to price its 6.7 million shares in the range of $14 to $16 per share, with an overallotment option for an additional 1.05 million shares. At the maximum price, the entire offering is valued up to $123.28 million. The company expects to list its shares on the Nasdaq under the symbol REPL.

The underwriters for the offering are JPMorgan, Leerink Partners and BMO Capital Markets.

This clinical-stage biotechnology company is committed to applying its leading expertise in the field of oncolytic immunotherapy to transform the lives of cancer patients. The firm uses its proprietary Immulytic platform to design and develop product candidates that are intended to maximally activate the immune system against solid tumors.

The foundation of its platform consists of a proprietary, engineered strain of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) that has been “armed” with a fusogenic therapeutic protein intended to substantially increase anti-tumor activity. This platform enables the firm to design multiple product candidates that incorporate various further genes whose expression is intended to augment the inherent properties of HSV-1 to both directly destroy tumor cells and induce an anti-tumor immune response.

Replimune is currently conducting a Phase 1/2 clinical trial with its lead product candidate, RP1, in patients with a range of solid tumors. Management has entered into a collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squib, under which it has granted a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to, and is supplying at no cost, its anti-PD-1 therapy, nivolumab, for use in combination with RP1 in this clinical trial.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to further fund and develop its pipeline and manufacturing facilities, with the remainder for general corporate purposes, including working capital requirements and operating expenses.