RARE Daily

Gene Editing Therapeutics Developer Verve Completes $266.7 Million IPO

June 17, 2021

Verve Therapeutics, a biotech company pioneering a new approach to the care of cardiovascular disease with single-course gene editing medicines, raised $266.7 million in an upsized initial public offering after fee and expenses.

The company priced its offering of 14 million shares of its common stock at $19.00 per share. That was above its expected range of $16 to $18. Verve increased the expected size of the offering by more than 2 million shares. It has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2.1 million shares of its common stock at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions.

The offering reflects the strong appetite Wall Street has for genetic medicine IPOs and rare disease therapeutic developers. Through the end of May, rare disease therapeutics companies raised $2.7 billion through IPOs this year, nearly 40 percent of the $6.8 billion raised by all therapeutics companies through IPOs during the period.

Verve is pioneering a new approach to the care of cardiovascular disease, transforming treatment from chronic management to single-course gene editing medicines. The company’s initial two programs target PCSK9 and ANGPTL3, genes that have been extensively validated as targets for lowering blood lipids such as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), a root cause of cardiovascular disease.

VERVE-101, currently in IND-enabling studies, is being developed initially for the treatment of patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, a potentially fatal genetic heart disease. The therapy is designed to turn off the PCSK9 gene in the liver in order to disrupt blood PCSK9 protein production and thereby reduce blood LDL-C levels, with the goal of reducing a patient’s risk for cardiovascular disease.

Verve’s shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on June 17, 2021, under the ticker symbol “VERV.” The offering is expected to close on June 21, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Author: Rare Daily Staff

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