Health and Healthcare

Flex Pharma Files for IPO

Flex Pharma Inc. has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its initial public offering (IPO). No terms were given, but the filing is valued up to $60 million. The company will list on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol FLKS.

The underwriters of the offering are Jefferies, JMP Securities, Piper Jaffray, Roth Capital Partners and Cantor Fitzgerald.

Flex is a biotechnology company that is developing innovative and proprietary treatments for nocturnal leg cramps and spasms associated with severe neuromuscular conditions. Novel insights regarding neuromuscular physiology from its co-founders form the basis of development efforts. Flex believes that activation of certain receptors in primary sensory neurons reduces the repetitive firing, or hyperexcitability, of alpha-motor neurons, thereby preventing or reducing the frequency and intensity of muscle cramps and spasms.

Additionally, the company believes that it is the only company developing products based on this mechanism of muscle cramp and spasm inhibition, as there is no drug product currently available in the United States that has been approved to treat nocturnal leg cramps. The company estimates that approximately four million U.S. adults over the age of 65 suffer from nocturnal leg cramps on a daily basis. Nocturnal leg cramps also affect people younger than 65, and there is an opportunity to serve this patient population as well.

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Flex has already conducted three randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled crossover studies of its proprietary treatment, which have shown a statistically significant reduction in the intensity of muscle cramps induced in healthy normal volunteers. The company intends to initially focus its drug development efforts on developing a product to treat nocturnal leg cramps. In the second quarter of 2015, Flex intends to initiate at least one human proof-of-concept study of its proprietary treatment for individuals who suffer from nocturnal leg cramps.

The proceeds from this offering will go to fund research and development efforts of its drug product candidates of nocturnal leg cramps. Other proceeds from the offering will be used in sales and marketing, as well as to fund working capital and general corporate purposes. The amount allocated for each use has yet to be stated.

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