Health and Healthcare

Clearside Biomedical Announces Potential Pricing for IPO

Chris Lange

Published: May 12, 2016 8:35 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 9:31 am

Clearside Biomedical has filed an amended S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its initial public offering (IPO). The company expects to price its 4 million shares in the range of $14 to $16 per share, with an overallotment option for an additional 600,000 shares. At the maximum price the entire offering is valued up to $73.6 million. The company intends to list its shares on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol CLSD.

The underwriters for this offering are Cowen, Stifel, Needham and Wedbush PacGrow.

This late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company is developing first-in-class drug therapies to treat blinding diseases of the eye. The current product candidates focus on diseases affecting the retina and choroid, especially diseases associated with macular edema, and are injected into the suprachoroidal space (SCS), adjacent to the choroid, using the proprietary SCS Microinjector.

With the SCS injection, Clearside’s product candidates are more directly administered to the retina and choroid, as compared to other ocular drug delivery techniques, such as intravitreal injections. The company believes SCS injection may provide a number of benefits, including lower frequency of necessary injection and faster onset of therapeutic effect.

Clearside holds the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize drugs for injection into the SCS. Its most advanced product candidates, CLS-1001 and CLS-1003, are based on commonly used ophthalmic drugs, which it believes will allow it to more efficiently and predictably pursue the regulatory approval of these product candidates under the U.S. Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

It is estimated that there are nearly 5 million people in the United States diagnosed with these target indications and that worldwide annual sales of drugs to treat these indications were roughly $7 billion in 2014.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to further develop its pipeline. The remainder will be used to fund continued research and development of earlier-stage programs, including drug discovery for potential new applications for SCS microinjection technology, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.