As Vaxcyte targets it’s the pneumococcal vaccine market, the company is facing significant competition from major pharma companies already in the space.
Pictured: Filled syringe resting on top of vaccine vials/iStock, May Lim
California-based vaccine biotech Vaxcyte is looking to put forward another public offering of its common stock and to get around $750 million, according to the company’s announcement on Wednesday.
The biotech is selling over 10.9 million shares of its common stock, which will be sold for $64 per share. Underwriters will be able to purchase an additional 1.7 million shares, with the company expecting to pull in around $750 million. The deal is expected to close on Feb. 2.
This is not the first time recently that Vaxcyte has been looking to roll the dice on the public markets. In 2023, the company sold another 11.2 million shares and was looking to net around $500 million.
The latest sale comes as the company has finished enrollment for a Phase I/II clinical study for its VAX-31 vaccine candidate, a 31-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.The biotech plans to show the topline data sometime in the third quarter of 2024.
“Completing the enrollment of the VAX-31 study with more than one thousand adults 50 years and older is a significant step for our PCV franchise, and we look forward to announcing topline safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity data in the third quarter of this year,” Vaxcyte CEO Grant Pickering said in a release at the time.
“VAX-31, the broadest-spectrum PCV in the clinic, has the potential to address a significant public health need by covering approximately 95% of IPD circulating in the U.S. adult population while maintaining coverage of previously circulating strains that are currently contained via ongoing vaccination,” Pickering added.
However, Vaxcyte will attempt to enter the pneumococcal vaccine market as several other major pharma companies are developing or already establishing themselves in the space. In June 2021, Pfizer’s Prevnar 20 vaccine was approved by the FDA for adults 18 years and older.
Merck’s candidate, V116, has been granted a priority review for its 21-valent vaccine and has a PDUFA date set for June 17, 2024. Meanwhile, Sanofi has shown some positive results from the pneumococcal vaccine it is developing with SK Bioscience. It is planning a Phase III trial in pediatric patients in the second half of 2024 and plans to submit for approval in 2027.
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
