Selecta Biosciences 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 4.25 million shares in the range of $14 to $16 per share with an overallotment option for an additional 637,500 shares. At the maximum price the entire offering is valued up to $78.2 million. The company intends to list its shares on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol SELB.

The underwriters for the offering are UBS Investment Bank, Stifel, Canaccord Genuity and Needham.

This clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company is using its proprietary synthetic vaccine particle (SVP) technology to discover and develop targeted therapies that are designed to modulate the immune system to effectively and safely treat rare and serious diseases. Many such diseases are treated with biologic therapies that are foreign to the patient’s immune system and, therefore, elicit an undesired immune response. Of particular concern are anti-drug antibodies (ADAs), which are produced by the immune system in response to biologic therapy and can adversely affect the efficacy and safety of treatment.

Selecta’s 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. The company believes its SVP technology has the potential for broad applications to both enhance existing biologic drugs and enable novel therapies. The lead product candidate, SEL-212, is a combination of a therapeutic enzyme and its 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, each a painful and debilitating disease with unmet medical need.

SEL-212 is currently in a comprehensive Phase 1/2 clinical program. The Phase 1/2 clinical program is comprised of two Phase 1 clinical trials and a Phase 2 clinical trial, and it is designed to evaluate the ability of SEL-212 to control uric acid levels and mitigate the formation of ADAs. Based on preliminary data from the ongoing Phase 1b clinical trial, the Selecta believes 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. The company expects to receive final data from both Phase 1 clinical trials and initiate the Phase 2 clinical trial in the second half of 2016.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to support the clinical development of SEL-212, including SEL-212’s Phase 2 clinical trial, as well as to fund preclinical studies for its gene therapy program. The remainder will be put toward the advancement of Selecta’s SVP technologies, working capital and general corporate purposes.

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