Vital Therapies lowers the bar with 2nd IPO try

Bio-artificial liver maker Vital Therapies set the range for its initial public offering at $13 to $15 per share, below the $16 to $18 range it set last year before scuttling its 1st try at a U.S. IPO.

In March Vital Therapies filed updated registration statements signaling its intent to launch the IPO, wiping clean the pricing set in November 2013. Another filing today set the new price range for the 4.5-million-share offering at $58.5 million to $67.5 million.

That would put the San Diego-based company’s market capitalization at $1.69 billion to $1.95 billion, according to a regulatory filing. Vital Therapies plans to trade on the NASDAQ exchange under the "VTL" symbol.

Vital Therapies 1st announced the IPO last October, saying it hoped to use the proceeds to continue development of its ELAD artificial liver. A month later it spiked the IPO due to market conditions.

The company, founded about 10 years ago, says its ELAD artificial liver may help stabilize liver function in treatment of patients with acute organ failure, hepatitis B and alcohol hepatitis. The ELAD device is comprised of a system of lumen catheters, plasma circuits and fluid recirculation components that functionally overrides a failing liver to detoxify blood and create proteins.

Vital Therapies earlier last 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. Another equity round this year brought in $14 million.