AvroBio Inc. (NASDAQ: AVRO) shares continued their run on Wednesday, despite the firm announcing that it would conduct a secondary offering. Normally announcing a secondary offering causes shares to drop, but in this case investors seem to see this as an opportunity to accumulate more shares.
On Tuesday, shares pushed higher after the company announced the first kidney biopsy result and additional positive data from two ongoing clinical trials of its AVR‑RD‑01 investigational gene therapy in Fabry disease. To date, eight patients have been dosed in the trials: three patients in the Phase 2 FAB-2011 trial and five patients in the Phase 1 FACTs2 trial.
Dr. Mark Thomas of the Department of Nephrology at Royal Perth Hospital and Clinical Professor at the University of Western Australia Medical School, the lead investigator for the FAB-201 trial, noted:
I believe today’s data indicate that AVR-RD-01 is substantially reducing the build-up of Gb3 substrate in kidney tissue to potentially effective clearance levels. This, along with the sustained reduction in Gb3 and lyso-Gb3 in plasma observed to date, could translate into substantially improved patient outcomes over the current standard of care.
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As for the offering, the company priced its 6.5 million shares at $18.50 a piece, with an overallotment option for an additional 975,000 shares. Gross proceeds from the underwritten public offering totaled approximately $120.25 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses.
The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, in addition to its existing cash resources, to fund the support of the company’s current programs in Fabry disease, Gaucher disease, cystinosis and Pompe disease, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.
Shares of AvroBio were last seen up about 17% at $22.45, in a 52-week range of $11.85 to $53.70. The consensus analyst target is $39.00.
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