Gene Therapy Startup LogicBio Therapeutics Prices IPO at $10 per Share, Aims to Raise $70 Million

On October 19, 2018, VCBeat (WeChat ID: VCbeat) learned from foreign media that gene therapy startup LogicBio (Nasdaq: LOGC) announced its initial public offering (IPO) would issue 7 million shares of common stock at a public offering price of $10 per share, raising a total of $70 million. It is estimated that LogicBio’s valuation reached $294 million after this IPO. Previously, in June 2017, LogicBio secured a $45 million Series B financing round led by Arix Bioscience and OrbiMed.

Arix Bioscience (LSE: ARIX) holds a 13.5% stake in LogicBio. The initial investment was valued at £4.9 million, and LogicBio’s IPO increased the value of this initial investment to £17.5 million (based on the closing price as of October 18, 2018). Additionally, Arix invested $7 million (£5.4 million) in LogicBio’s IPO, bringing the new total valuation of its equity to £22.9 million, thereby maintaining its 13.5% ownership stake in LogicBio.

LogicBio will use the proceeds from its IPO to continue developing its drug candidates, primarily for the discovery and preclinical development of other candidates on its GeneRide™ platform, as well as for general corporate purposes.

LogicBio’s GeneRide™ platform utilizes non-pathogenic adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors to deliver corrective genes into patients. These corrective genes precisely align with specific segments of the patient’s own genome, thereby activating the cells’ natural DNA repair mechanisms. Compared with other gene-editing technologies, the GeneRide™ platform offers greater durability, therapeutic precision, and safety in disease treatment. Because the corrective genes can integrate precisely into chromosomes, they become a permanent part of the patient’s DNA during cell division, resulting in more sustained therapeutic effects than other gene therapies. Furthermore, by leveraging the body’s innate DNA repair machinery to integrate corrective genes—rather than employing traditional gene-editing approaches that cut patient DNA and introduce exogenous nucleases—the platform leaves the patient’s endogenous DNA unaltered, thereby reducing the risks of genotoxicity and immune responses associated with gene therapy.

LogicBio's R&D Pipeline

Joe Anderson, Chief Information Officer of Arix, stated, “Gene therapy holds immense promise for treating rare diseases. Early-onset genetic disorders in children present a significant challenge, and we believe LogicBio has the potential to address this medical hurdle through its GeneRide technology. We will continue to collaborate with LogicBio to advance research into its potentially breakthrough therapeutic solutions.”

Arix Bioscience, founded in 2015 and headquartered in London with an office in New York, is a healthcare and life sciences company that supports global medical innovation. Arix provides funding to medical innovation companies at various stages of development, financing and cultivating world-class healthcare and life sciences businesses.

LogicBio Therapeutics, founded in 2014 in Massachusetts, USA, is a gene therapy startup focused on developing gene medicines to treat patients with rare diseases of high unmet medical need, leveraging its proprietary GeneRide™ technology platform. LogicBio develops gene therapy vectors for rare and difficult-to-treat genetic and infectious diseases, such as hemophilia, HIV/AIDS, and methylmalonic acidemia (MMA).