Alzheon's IPO: What You Need To Know

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Alzheon is set to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol “ALZH.”

The Details

The company intends to raise $35 million in common stock through the sale of 2.5 million shares. Alzheon anticipates an initial share price between $13 and $15, according to the S-1 filing.

At the midpoint of the range, the company would have a fully diluted market value of $196 million, according to Nasdaq. The main bookrunners of the IPO are ThinkEquity and H.C. Wainwright & Co.

This is not the company’s first attempt at an initial public offering. In April, Alzheon attempted a large IPO of $80 million, but withdrew the filing.

The Company

Founded in 2013, the Phase 3 biotech company is developing small molecule therapies for Alzheimer’s, and is the only company conducting this very specific work, according to the S-1.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the disease affects roughly 5.7 million people in the United States, 5.5 million of whom are over the age of 65, the S-1 filing said. Alzheon's leading drug candidate ALZ-801 is a prodrug of tramiprosate that inhibits the formation of the oligomer that drives the disease.

The treatment has been evaluated in 16 clinical trials with over 2,000 patients.

“If ALZ-801 is approved, we believe it has the potential to be among the first drugs to intervene in a key underlying mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease," the company said.

Alzheon has commenced a Phase 1b trial in the U.S. and plans to begin a Phase 2b trial in the first half of 2019 both in the U.S. and internationally, according to the S-1. The candidate was granted Fast Track designation by the Food and Drug Administration in 2017.

The company's lead pre-clinical candidate is ALZ-1903, a new chemical entity that is a higher-potency inhibitor of the treatment.

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