Shares of aesthetic drugmaker Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc. in Calabasas opened Thursday at $18.66 in the company's initial public offering, 17 percent higher than the offered share price of $16.
Prices of Kythera's common stock on the Nasdaq rose as high as $20.59 before closing at $19.79, 24 percent higher than the offering price.
Kythera said it will sell 4.4 million shares of its common stock in the offering. Based on the offered share price, the company said it expected to raise $70.4 million.
Kythera, which developed the injectable drug ATX-101 to reduce fat under the chin, is working with Bayer Dermatology to commercialize the drug outside the United States and Canada.
ATX-101 is involved in two Phase III trials in the U.S. that Kythera said should end in 2013.
Kythera expects to use the money raised in the IPO to fund the Phase III clinical trials and apply for federal approval to sell ATX-101 in the U.S. and Canada.
The drug company will trade under the symbol KYTH.
Kythera had announced its plans to go public May 17 and to raise $86.2 million.
Kythera has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 660,000 shares of common stock to cover overallotments, if any.
The company was founded in 2005 and took the name Kythera in 2006. As of its IPO filing in May, Kythera had never been profitable and had an accumulated deficit of $90.4 million. ___
(c)2012 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.)
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