Dutch RNA Firm Announces a Public Offering when its Stock is at an All-Time Low

proqr stock public offering

ProQR is aiming to raise funds for clinical trials on the Nasdaq despite the fact that its stock has been down for a while now.

ProQR is a biotech based in Leiden that develops RNA therapies for genetic disorders, with its lead program focused on cystic fibrosis. In order to fund clinical trials, research and its corporate activities, the company has announced today its intention to raise funds in a public offering on the Nasdaq. ProQR expects to raise about $20M (€17M) by Thursday.

The timing doesn’t seem to be the best given that ProQR’s stock on the Nasdaq is at an all-time low. The company entered the public market back in 2014, raising $75M. The company had been founded just 2 years before, inspired by CEO Daniel de Boer‘s determination to create a cure for his son, who was born with cystic fibrosis.

But today, ProQR’s stock is down by almost 80% as compared to when the company did its IPO. The company is offering its shares at $3.25 a piece, a slightly lower number than that of its last closing.

The news of ProQR’s fundraising on the Nasdaq is timed with the announcement of the dosing of the first patient in a new clinical trial. The Phase I/II trial will test ProQR’s QR-110, a therapy for the rare genetic disease Leber’s congenital amaurosis, a condition that causes blindness in children.

The company might be expecting the news to help its stock go up in the following days in order to raise the money it needs to keep funding its clinical trials, which are getting more and more expensive as ProQR gets closer to late-stage development, so far without a pharma partner.

ProQR’s has already completed a Phase 1b trial with its lead candidate, QR-010, in cystic fibrosis, whose results bumped up the stock a bit at the end of September. The company also recently launched a spin-out, Amylon Therapeutics, which will specialize in developing its RNA technology to treat central nervous system (CNS) disorders.


Update (14/11/2017): Included the expected amount to be raised after ProQR issued a press release.


Images via Puslatronik /Shutterstock; Yahoo Finance

Newsletter Signup - Under Article / In Page

"*" indicates required fields

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest biotech news!

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Labiotech.eu

Suggested Articles

Show More