Keros Therapeutics raised $96 million in an upsized initial public offering, selling six million shares at $16 per share, the top of its offering range.
Shares will trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “KROS.”
Despite volatile financial markets due to the COVD-19 pandemic, Wall Street has welcomed rare disease focused biotechs, with three companies completing upsized IPOs in 2020 at the top of their proposed offering range: Beam Therapeutics and Passage Bio in February, and Keros Pharmaceuticals in April. Collectively, these three companies raised almost half a billion dollars to advance their pipelines.
Keros’ IPO comes just one month after the company raised $56 million in a series C financing. Proceeds from that financing and the IPO will be used to advance Keros’ programs in hematologic and musculoskeletal disorders with a high unmet medical need. Keros’ experimental therapies are based on understanding the role of the Transforming Growth Factor-Beta, or TGF-ß, family of proteins, which are master regulators of red blood cell and platelet production as well as of the growth, repair and maintenance of muscle and bone.
The biotech’s lead protein therapeutic product candidate, KER-050, is being developed for the treatment of low blood cell counts, or cytopenias, including anemia and thrombocytopenia, in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and in patients with myelofibrosis, both rare disorders.
Keros’ lead small molecule product candidate, KER-047, is being developed for the treatment of anemia resulting from elevated levels of hepcidin, the key regulator of iron absorption and recycling, as well as for the treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive (FOP), a rare genetic diseases where muscle connective tissues gradually become replaced by bone.
Keros’ preclinical candidate, KER-012, is being developed for the treatment of disorders associated with bone loss, such as osteoporosis and osteogenesis imperfecta, and for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
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