Dallas-based Vaxxinity to go public Thursday with a nearly $2 billion valuation

Dallas-based Vaxxinity Inc., a biotechnology company aiming to democratize the treatment of chronic diseases, is scheduled to go public on Thursday with an initial stock offering that is expected to raise approximately $ 90 million.

Vaxxinity will offer up to 6.9 million shares at $ 13 each on the Nasdaq under the ticker VAXX. The IPO tracking company Renaissance Capital had previously estimated the company’s value at around $ 2 billion after the IPO.

Founded earlier this year as a merger of Dublin-based Covaxx and Dallas-based United Neuroscience, the company uses synthetic peptides, molecules that can mimick proteins, to provide vaccine therapies for diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and high cholesterol to develop.

It also worked to develop a COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic.

“Our Vaxxine platform is designed to use the immune system to turn the body into its own natural ‘drug factory’ and stimulate the production of antibodies,” the company said on its website.

At the helm of Vaxxinity is Mei Mei Hu, an emerging star in the world of drug development who has embarked on an unconventional route into biotechnology. The company’s CEO and co-founder previously worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. for pharmaceutical companies and holds a law degree from Harvard. Your parents are both scientists.

In 2014 she founded United Neuroscience with the aim of finding new treatments for brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Her work got her on both the Time 100 Next and Fortune 40 Under 40 lists in 2019.

Despite Hu’s success prior to Vaxxinity’s initial public offering, the new company has had a tough year. The combined consolidated net loss in 2020 was $ 40 million, and the company’s combined cumulative deficit as of June 30 was nearly $ 151 million.

“We have invested essentially all of our financial resources and efforts in research and development, including preclinical studies and clinical studies, and we expect our spending to continue to grow over the next few years if we continue these activities,” the said Company in its IPO registration.

Vaxxinity is based in Downtown Dallas and employed 75 people as of September 30th. None of the company’s six vaccines under development have made it to market.

In June, the company signed a contract to supply Paraguay with 1 million doses of its UB-612 COVID-19 vaccine if approved by the Taiwanese Food and Drug Administration for emergency approval. Vaxxinity said it is geared towards making vaccines available in underserved communities and developing countries.

However, the Taiwanese FDA denied Vaxxinity’s application, so the company re-evaluated and developed a different plan for further development, Hu said in an interview with Fortune. She said this put Vaxxinity in a good position as COVID-19 becomes an endemic problem.

The company submitted new data to the Taiwanese FDA and received approval to conduct a study in the United States

Two of Vaxxinity’s vaccines, UB-612 COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s vaccine UB-311, are in Phase II clinical trials, according to the company’s website. These studies will determine the safety and effectiveness of the treatments.

Only one other vaccine – the UB-312 for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia and the neurological disease multi-system atrophy – made it into phase I studies.

Vaxxinity is one of more than 60 biotechnology and life sciences companies in North Texas. The area has approximately 27,000 industry jobs, according to estimates by the Dallas Regional Chamber.

The industry as a whole is booming, and the global biotechnology market is expected to reach $ 2.44 trillion by 2028, according to an April report by Grand View Research.

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