Alumis, an immunology drug developer on the cusp of Phase 3, will go public Friday in a smaller IPO than it originally projected.
The Bay Area startup sold 13.12 million shares $ALMS at $16 apiece to fund late-stage testing of its lead TYK2 drug, studies of a second asset in neuroinflammatory conditions and preclinical projects. After launching with a market capitalization of about $900 million, Alumis’ share price quickly fell about 17% in its first day of trading.
The Nasdaq debut comes at the low end of the price range it set earlier this week. It’s also about 4.5 million fewer shares than originally projected, but it sold an additional 2.5 million shares in a concurrent private placement at the same price to existing backer AyurMaya Capital Management.
Alumis looks to create a next-gen immunology treatment — behind Bristol Myers Squibb’s Sotyktu and Takeda’s TAK-279 — and will have to spend heavily to produce results. The company has allocated $345 million toward clinical development of the drug, dubbed ESK-001, according to its securities paperwork.
It is the 10th biotech to go public this year above a $75 million IPO threshold. All but one of those had already entered human studies. Its public launch arrived just months after a $259 million Series C announcement.
With its late-stage work in the burgeoning I&I market, Alumis hopes to buck the trend of other biotechs that are trading below their debut price. Only three are currently trading above their IPO price: neuroscience startups Rapport and Contineum and bladder cancer biotech CG Oncology.
Alumis has already spent more than nine figures each of the past two years on R&D to get to Phase 3, a clinical milestone that it expects to achieve in the second half of this year. The company devoted about $137 million to R&D last year and $101 million in 2022, according to its S-1.
Its largest shareholders are AyurMaya Capital Management and Foresite Capital Management, whose Foresite Labs incubated the startup. Key crossover investors include Samsara BioCapital and venBio Partners. The Baker Brothers, which are largely famous for their Seagen investment, also own stock in Alumis.
Martin Babler leads Alumis as chair and CEO. He previously sold Principia Biopharma to Sanofi in the fall of 2020. His leadership team includes other former Principia executives David Goldstein, Roy Hardiman and Sara Klein, among others.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include share price reaction on the first day of trading.