While initial public offering activity was light in 2023, the new year has recorded the first IPO plan—from California-based CG Oncology.
Pictured: IPO concept art showing stacks of coins and an upward trendline/iStock, holwichaikawee
CG Oncology has plans to be one of the first biotechs to go public in 2024. The company laid out its initial public offering in a document filed with the SEC.
According to the filing, CG Oncology will make over 44 million shares of its common stock issuable with “a number” of shares of its common stock reserved, which will become effective with the offering. However, no specific figures on how much the company plans to make were initially revealed.
CG Oncology plans to use the cash from the IPO and its existing funds for the research and development of cretostimogene, the company’s treatment for bladder cancer. The funds will also go toward “certain manufacturing activities” for the treatment. If any cash is left over, CG Oncology will plan to put the funds toward working capital and for other purposes, such as pre-clinical activities.
The company may also use a portion of the funds left over for in-licensing, acquiring, or investing in “complementary businesses, technologies, products or assets.” Still, the CG Oncology was adamant in the SEC filing that it has no obligations or commitments to do so. The document did not indicate how long the cash will keep the company afloat.
CG Oncology has garnered strong interest over the past two years from investors. In August 2023, the company closed a $105 million funding round, which it labeled as “oversubscribed” led by Foresite Capital and TCGX. At the time, those funds went to support its clinical programs and secure FDA approval for its bladder cancer drug. CG Oncology also secured a $120 million Series E in 2022, pushing it to over $200 million worth of investment dollars at the time.
According to this week’s SEC filing, cretostimogene has shown some “clinical benefit” as a monotherapy and a combination therapy. For its BOND-003 trial, interim data showed in October 2023 that 50 of the 66 patients had “achieved complete response.”
While 2023 was a horrible year for biotech, which saw the fewest companies going public in a decade, IPO activity seemed to pick up some steam at the end of the year. Carmot Therapeutics also entered the IPO game in November 2023 as it looked to take advantage of the red hot GLP-1 market. Endpoints News reported that Fractyl Health revealed its IPO plans in mid-December 2023 and may go public before CG Oncology.
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
