Startup Behind Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Files for U.S. IPO-- 2nd Update
10 April 2021 - 1:21AM
Dow Jones News
By Jenny Strasburg
LONDON -- The biotech startup behind the Covid-19 vaccine
jointly developed by AstraZeneca PLC and the University of Oxford
filed Friday with U.S. regulators for a public share offering.
Vaccitech PLC said in a securities filing it plans to use the
technology underpinning the vaccine to develop treatments targeting
prostate cancer, hepatitis B and human papillomavirus. The Wall
Street Journal reported Wednesday that the IPO filing could come as
soon as this week. The U.K.-based company plans to list on New
York's Nasdaq with the ticker symbol VACC.
The company was started by two Oxford scientists who helped lead
the Covid-19 vaccine development and who spun Vaccitech out of the
university in 2016, with the goal of turning laboratory discoveries
into commercial products. A key part of the vaccine technology uses
an altered form of chimpanzee cold virus to ferry genetic material
into humans to boost the immune system and fight infection.
Vaccitech has been aiming for a listed valuation of around $700
million, with backers estimating it could be a $1 billion company
by year-end, The Journal reported last month. The company recently
raised $168 million in new funding as a step toward a share
offering.
It had $4.8 million in revenue last year and a loss of about
$17.7 million and hasn't generated any revenue from product sales,
according to Friday's filing. It said Vaccitech aims to raise $100
million -- a figure generally put in debut IPO filings as a
placeholder to be adjusted during marketing of the company.
Vaccitech to date has raised $216 million from investors
including pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences Inc.; Alphabet
Inc.'s GV, formerly called Google Ventures; and Sequoia Capital
China, an affiliate of the Silicon Valley venture-capital
giant.
(More to Come)
Write to Jenny Strasburg at jenny.strasburg@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 09, 2021 19:06 ET (23:06 GMT)
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