Vital Therapies priced its initial public offering at $12 per share, once again lowering the bar for its 1st public flotation after scuttling its 1st try at a U.S. IPO.
Vital Therapies, which is developing a bio-artificial liver, last October set the IPO’s price range at $16-$18. But the San Diego-based company but shelved the offering until March, when it set the range at $13-$15 per share.
Today Vital Therapies plans to begin trading at $12 per share, for a total raise of $54 million for the 4.5 million shares on offer.
Vital Therapies, which plans to trade on the NASDAQ exchange under the "VTL" symbol, 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.
