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ARTICLE | Financial News

Ionis lipid spinout Akcea targets $100M IPO

March 27, 2017 11:50 PM UTC

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) plans to spin out subsidiary Akcea Therapeutics Inc. in an IPO in which it would raise up to $100 million, according to a regulatory filing. Concurrently, partner Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) is to invest $50 million in Akcea via a separate private placement at the IPO price.

Akcea’s pipeline comprises lipid disorder candidates volanesorsen (IONIS-APOCIIIRx), AKCEA-APO(a)-LRx, AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx and AKCEA-APOCIII-LRx, all of which the company exclusively licensed from Ionis. Akcea plans to submit regulatory applications in 3Q17 for the most advanced, volanesorsen, which is an apolipoprotein C-III (APOCIII; APOC3) antisense inhibitor (see BioCentury Extra, March 6)...