Motif Bio Closes in on IPO

Motif Bio registered an F-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its initial public offering (IPO). The company intends to offer 58 million ordinary shares represented by American depositary shares (ADSs), with each ADS amounting to 20 ordinary shares and 0.5 of an ADS warrant. No exercise price has been set for the warrant. The company expects to price each of these ADSs around $8.38, based on where the stock trades on the London Exchange. Motif expects to raise roughly 24.1 million in this offering.

The company expects to list its ADSs on the Nasdaq under the symbol MTFB. The sole underwriter for the offering is H.C. Wainwright.

This clinical stage biopharmaceutical company is engaged in the research and development of novel antibiotics designed to be effective against serious and life-threatening infections in hospitalized patients caused by multi-drug-resistant bacteria. The discovery of new antibiotics has not kept pace with the increasing incidence of resistant, difficult-to-treat bacteria. One of the biggest threats of antibiotic resistance is from MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections and a growing cause of infections in healthy people in the general community.

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In 2013, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that at least 2 million people became infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and at least 23,000 Americans died as a direct result of these infections. The lead product candidate, iclaprim, is being developed for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI) and hospital acquired bacterial pneumonia, including ventilator associated bacterial pneumonia, infections which are often caused by MRSA. Motif is currently enrolling and dosing patients in two global Phase 3 clinical trials with an intravenous (IV) formulation of iclaprim, for the treatment of ABSSSI.

The company expects to use the net proceeds from this offering to further develop its pipeline, with the remainder going toward working capital and general corporate purposes.

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