RARE Daily

Two Rare Disease Focused Biotechs Raise $900 Million in Follow-on Offerings

July 1, 2020

Acceleron Pharma and CRISPR Therapeutics each raised $450 million in follow-on offerings to fund continued development of their rare disease pipelines.

Acceleron, a company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of TGF-beta superfamily therapeutics to treat serious and rare diseases, priced an underwritten public offering of 4,864,864 shares of common stock at $92.50 per share. In connection with this offering, Acceleron has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 729,729 shares of common stock.

Acceleron intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to conduct clinical trials and associated activities in connection with its therapeutic candidates in its pulmonary programs; to prepare for the potential launch and commercialization of sotatercept for the treatment of the rare and chronic condition pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH); and for general corporate purposes. The company recently reported positive topline results in a phase 2 trial of sotatercept for the treatment of PAH in a phase 2 trial.

In hematology, Acceleron is co-promoting Reblozyl with partner Bristol Myers Squibb for the treatment of anemia in certain blood disorders. The partners are also developing luspatercept for the treatment of anemia in patient populations of myelodysplastic syndroms, beta-thalassemia, and myelofibrosis.

Gene-editing biotech CRISPR Therapeutics priced an underwritten public offering of 6,428,572 common shares at $70.00 per share. In addition, the underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 964,285 common shares at the public offering price less the underwriting discount.

CRISPR Therapeutics focuses on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. Its pipeline in rare diseases includes an experimental stem cell therapy for the treatment of severe sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia, which is partnered with Vertex Pharmaceuticals. It also has programs in preclinical development for glycogen storage disease type 1a, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis.

 

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