Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. yesterday announced the pricing of its Nasdaq IPO. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company will seek to raise $35 million at a company valuation of $132 million by issuing 2,837,400 ordinary shares at a price of $13.50 per share, before underwriting discounts and commissions. Galmed has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 425,610 additional ordinary shares to cover over-allotments.
Based in Tel Aviv and founded in 2000, the company is developing a treatment for fatty liver disease and cholesterol gallstones. Galmed believes that its product candidate, aramchol, has the potential to be a disease modifying treatment for fatty liver disorders, including Non-Alcoholic Steato-Hepatitis, or NASH, which is a chronic disease.
The company plans to begin the Phase IIb clinical trial on 240 patients in the second half of 2014, with the interim results due in 2015, and the final results due by the end 2016. The company has no profits, and lost $17.4 million in 2013. It has $137,000 in cash. Galmed is owned by CEO Allen Baharaff, with a 53% stake; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) director Chaim Hurvitz (10%); David and Dvora Goldfarb (6.7%), and Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL)(4.4%). The company has raised less than $10 million to date.
Galmed will begin trading later today under the ticker "GLMD."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 13, 2014
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