Moderna Therapeutics Files for $500 Million IPO, Potentially Setting a Biotech Record

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that on November 9, 2018, local time, mRNA therapy innovator Moderna Therapeutics filed regulatory documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), planning to list on the NASDAQ stock market. According to its prospectus, Moderna aims to raise $500 million, which could make it the largest biotechnology initial public offering (IPO) in history. This figure may still change as the company’s listing date approaches.

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Moderna trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol MRNA. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, the company is currently dedicated to developing synthetic mRNA therapeutics designed to induce the human body to produce disease-fighting proteins. Its significant potential may usher in an entirely new therapeutic approach, although this method has not yet been validated in humans. Moderna is not the only company pursuing this line of research; other firms, including CureVac, Translate Bio (NASDAQ: TBIO), and BioNTech, are also conducting similar studies.

Although Moderna remains privately held and clinical data are scarce, but it has already obtained$1.8 billion in risk financing, plus profits generated through collaborations with Merck (NYSE: MRK), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), and Alexion Pharmaceuticals.Approx.$800 million, and the company's valuation earlier this year has alreadyOver$7 billion.

ModernaSubmitAt the time of its IPO application, its bank assets totaled $1.2 billion. The prospectus also shows, the companyIn 2017, the revenue was $205 million, with a net loss of approximately $256 million. The companyInvested heavily in technology——Invested $410 million in R&D in 2017 alone, with a total expenditure of $865 million since its inception.

All of these arePart of Moderna and its supporters' high-risk strategy,Even in the longest and most successful biotechnologyThe company had already raised all its funding and remained private for years prior to its IPO.. This approach makesModerna can assembleAA distinguished team of 680 employees, with strategic alliances established with leading biopharmaceutical companies，Flagship Pioneeringand AstraZeneca were listed asModerna's largest shareholder, although the prospectus does not specify the exact shareholding percentage.

Moderna’s philosophy is to reward its broad base of investors through large-scale success. Earlier this year, Moderna Chief Financial Officer Lorence Kim stated in an interview with Xconomy that the company had amassed substantial capital by “broadly” courting investors. Unlike typical biotechnology companiesUnlike the public offering,Moderna has 21 pipeline candidatesProject, among whichTen are human clinical trial projects. Kim stated that Moderna’s goal is to become a company valued at over $50 billion, butCurrently, onlyFour biotechnology companies—Amgen(NASDAQ: AMGN), Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD), Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG), and Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) are so highly valued.

“We can draw a diagram like this to illustrate that the returns on drugs increase over time, and such returns are not achieved by a single drug alone, but rather represent a technology that continuously advances over time,” Kim stated at the time.For investors, the key is: We can provide such upward career development opportunities?“We believe we can do it.”

This strategy has raised public awareness ofExpectations for Moderna’s Potential Value—Given the Company’s Significant Success in Behind-the-Scenes Fundraising Over the Years. Today,Even in the absence of evidence demonstrating the efficacy of their drugs in human trials, companiesIt is also standard practice to go public after a Series B or C financing round, but this runs counter to the traditional development path of the biotechnology industry.This also makesModerna has become an object of both envy and skepticism. Earlier this year, it did not collaborate with ModernaofAlexis Borisy, a partner at Third Rock Ventures, said in an interview with Xconomy: “If all of this can be achieved, it will be truly remarkable, butIf not, many people would take pleasure in their misfortune.”

However, many challenges remain to be overcome. In its prospectus, Moderna pointed out that it is still unclear whether mRNA-based therapeutics are safe and effective, and since the FDA had never previously evaluated this class of drugs, the regulatory pathway remains uncertain. Furthermore, although Moderna’s most advanced program targets a form of heart disease, many of its projects are vaccines with lower profit margins compared to other types of pharmaceuticals.。Moderna stated in its prospectus that it “observed immune responses” in six of seven clinical programs during Phase 1 trials, four of which wereInfluenzaH10N8 vaccine (mRNA-1440), influenza H7N9 vaccine (mRNA-1851), chikungunya fever vaccine (mRNA-1388), and RSV vaccine (mRNA-1777)Zika Vaccine-mRNA-1325 did not elicit a significant immune response. Data from human volunteers are not yet available for other experimental cancer vaccines, nor for therapies targeting phenylketonuria, Fabry disease, and other conditions.

Moderna Therapeutics develops mRNA therapies, offering an in vivo drug modality that produces human proteins or antibodies within patients’ cells.It has also filed various patent applications, covering innovations ranging from novel nucleotide chemical entities to specific drug combinations. The company focuses on disease areas such as inherited genetic disorders, hemophilia and blood factors, and oncology.