Asante Solutions withdrew its plans for an initial public offering it had hoped would bring in $49 million for its Snap modular insulin pump.
Back in January Asante said it would offer 3.5 million shares at $13 to $15 apiece, which would have fetched $49 million at the midpoint. But the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company told the SEC yesterday that it won’t float any shares, without giving a specific reason.
Asante makes a modular insulin pump called the Snap that’s designed to use pre-loaded insulin cartridges. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company, which 1st filed a confidential registration with the SEC last October, said in December that it planned to list on the NASDAQ exchange under the PUMP symbol. The offering was originally expected to price the week of Feb. 2.
Asante Solutions claims the Snap device as the 1st to feature pre-filled insulin cartridges and pump bodies designed for disposal after a week. The company said the modular design "enables a novel, consumer-oriented business model with free trials, $99 upgrades and lower upfront costs."
The Snap system is available for a free, 28-day trial period. Upgrades to its remote controller, designed to be used for 4 years, go for $99 per update. Asante said the up-front cost of its device is $1,000, compared to the $4,000 to $6,000 cost of traditional pumps.
The Snap system won 510(k) clearance from the FDA in January 2013 for patients over age 21, for use with Eli Lilly‘s (NYSE:LLY) Humalog insulin cartridges. Asante said the Humalog cartridges own a roughly 50% share of the pre-filled insulin cartridge market.
"We initiated a limited launch in the 2nd quarter of 2013 and intend to use the proceeds of this offering to accelerate commercialization of the Snap system in the United States," the company said in the filing.