Axcella Health Announces $71.4 Million IPO to Advance Novel Endogenous Metabolic Modulators

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that biotechnology company Axcella Health recently announced its initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol AXLA, aiming to raise $71.4 million. The company plans to issue approximately 3.57 million shares of common stock at a price of $20 per share.

In addition, Axcella Health granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 530,000 shares of common stock at the public offering price. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and SVB Leerink served as joint book-running managers for this offering.

Axcella Health, founded in August 2008 and formerly known as Pronutria Biosciences, is a biotechnology company headquartered in Massachusetts, United States. The company employs 49 people and is dedicated to developing novel multi-factor interventions to address metabolic disorders in patients. In 2018, Bill Hinshim, an executive from Novartis, joined the company to oversee its operations.

Since its inception, Axcella Health has completed five rounds of financing, raising a total of approximately $150 million. Notably, in February 2016, the company closed a $42.5 million Series C round led by Nestlé Health Science; in November 2018, it completed a $59 million Series E round led by Flagship Pioneering.

Axcella Health has developed a comprehensive data platform called AXA. This platform contains extensive data on healthy subjects and patients with various diseases, enabling researchers to make accurate decisions and improve the success rate of clinical trials. The platform is designed to translate complex human biology into potential therapeutics that modulate metabolism, with a primary focus on muscle, liver, and neurodegenerative diseases.

AXA1125 is an endogenous metabolic modulator (EMM) developed by Axcella Health using its AXA platform for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This drug can effectively address metabolic, inflammatory, and fibrotic issues related to liver health. Another key candidate drug from the company is AXA1665, which is used to treat neuropsychiatric disorders associated with patients suffering from hepatic dysfunction (typically chronic liver disease).

It is understood that endogenous metabolic modulators represent a novel therapeutic approach for treating complex diseases, with their scientific basis lying in the fundamental influence and regulation of human metabolism through amino acids.

(Compiled by Jiao Yanli)