What You Need To Know About The Spark Therapeutics IPO

Six companies are set to go public on Friday. Below are details on the most anticipated biotech deal of the week.

The two best deals of the week are thought to be Spark Therapeutics Inc ONCE and Shake Shack SHAK. Spark Therapeutics is a gene therapy company focused on developing products for inherited retinal dystrophies, hematologic disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

Spark Therapeutics

The company's product furthest along in development is SPK-RPE65 for inherited retinal dystrophies caused by a mutation in the RPE65 gene. Spark is expecting to release final results from a Phase 3 trial in the second half of 2015.

The company is also partnered with Pfizer Inc. PFE for Hemophilia B.

Popularity Of Gene Therapy Peers

Gene therapy companies have been in the headlines a lot lately. Bluebird bio Inc BLUE, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc BLCM, Kite Pharma Inc KITE, Avalanche Biotechnologies Inc AAVL and Juno Therapeutics Inc JUNO are all up significantly from the IPO pricing. The most comparable company to Spark is Avalanche Biotechnologies, which went public July 2014.

IPO Specifics

Spark originally planned to offer 5.5 million shares, but has now raised it to 6.5 million. The underwriters for the deal are JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, Cowen and Sanford C. Bernstein. The new price range is $19 - $21, an increase from the original $15 - $17 range. The market cap at the middle of the range is now about $500 million. The deal prices Thursday night and trades Friday.