Precision immunology startup Alumis has filed to go public, pitching itself to Wall Street just three months after raising $259 million from private investors.
Alumis didn’t include an estimated figure in its initial filing but noted that proceeds will support its lead drug through multiple Phase 2 and Phase 3 readouts, as well as the Phase 1 study of a second program that recently entered the clinic. Both compounds are TYK2 inhibitors that Alumis believes will do more than the first-generation TYK2 drugs, including Bristol Myers Squibb’s Sotyktu and Takeda’s TAL-279.
The pace of biotech IPOs has slowed down since the beginning of the year, and Alumis would be among the only Nasdaq newbies to focus on immunology.
The biotech is gearing up for its first Phase 3 trials of the lead asset, ESK-001, in the second half of the year for patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The biotech had reported Phase 2 data in March, days after announcing its $259 million Series C (and hinting to Endpoints News that an IPO “is not far off”).
Having previously kept its Phase 3 trial design under wraps, Alumis disclosed that its studies will feature both placebo (through week 16) and Amgen’s Otezla (through week 24) as comparators. It will also test the drug in systemic lupus erythematosus and uveitis in other Phase 2 trials.
Its second candidate, A-005, is designed to penetrate the central nervous system and thus address neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. Alumis said it’s identified additional preclinical programs now under research.
The idea of applying precision medicine to immunology, powered by data analytics, was front and center in Merck’s $10.8 billion acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences last year. Recently, a team led by former Prometheus execs launched Mirador Therapeutics with a whopping $400 million to follow the same playbook.
Alumis — which was incubated at Foresite Labs and debuted in 2021 with the name Esker Therapeutics — is now helmed by ex-Principia CEO Martin Babler. Other investors include Samsara BioCapital, venBio Partners, Cormorant Asset Management, SR One and Lilly Asia Ventures. So far, it has collected more than $600 million and burned through $414 million of it, according to the filing.
Foresite Capital, Baker Brothers Life Sciences and AyurMaya Capital Management Fund are listed as the largest shareholders, each with a stake larger than 5%, although their precise ownership was not broken down.
Babler and other execs also own an unspecified amount of shares. The filing revealed that the CEO received a compensation package worth almost $4.6 million in 2023, with the majority in option awards.