Vital Therapies delays IPO on ‘poor market conditions’

San Diego, Calif.-based Vital Therapies Inc. decided to put off its initial public offering for an undisclosed period of time, hoping market conditions will improve for its liver failure cell-based therapy.

The IPO was supposed to launch this week, according to Renaissance Capital IPO Center, which cited "poor market conditions" as the reason for the delay.

The company earlier this month laid out its final pricing for the IPO at $16 to $18 per share for 4.4 million shares, a total take of up to $79.2 million.

Vital Therapies, which was founded about 10 years ago, hopes its ELAD artificial liver may help stabilize liver function in treatment of patients with acute organ failure, hepatitis B and alcohol hepatitis. Vital Therapies earlier this year drummed up $22.5 million in an equity funding round and launched a phase III trial comparing ELAD treatment to the standard-of-care in patients with alcohol-induced liver deterioration.

ELAD is a system of lumen catheters, plasma circuits, and fluid recirculation components that functionally overrides a failing liver to detoxify blood and create proteins.

The healthcare products maker plans to use the funds for developing and chasing approval for the ELAD system and to "facilitate our future access to the public equity markets," according to the registration statements. Funds raised from this IPO should get the company at least through the next year, at should be sufficient to fund operations through the point at which Vital Therapies expects to get initial data on its Phase III program, according to company statements.