Will the biotech IPO market be better in 2017? Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Jounce Therapeutics hopes so.
A low-key filing on Dec. 30 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows the immunotherapy company is on track to go public “as soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.”
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Jounce plans to list on the NASDAQ Capital Market using the ticker symbol “JNCE.”
At its upper limit, the startup could raise $75 million through the IPO. That’s a tidy sum for a company that launched as recently as Feb. 2013, with the backing of Third Rock Ventures. It went on to close a Series B financing round in April 2015, bringing its private funding total to $103 million.
Jounce has used that cash to advance both a cancer immunotherapy platform and a suite of targeted therapeutics. Just one of those investigational drugs has advanced into clinical trials thus far.
Source: Jounce Therapeutics, 2016
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That lead compound, JTX-2011, formed the basis of a July 2016 deal with Celgene that could be worth up to $2.3 billion. The upfront payment alone clocked in at $225 million.
Celgene and Jounce are now closely partnered on the development of JTX-2011, which targets head and neck cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Celgene also has option agreements in place to commandeer up to four other cancer immunotherapies in Jounce’s pipeline.
JTX-2011 is a monoclonal antibody that targets the Inducible T cell CO-Stimulator (ICOS), expressed on the surface of certain T-cells. By binding this receptor, Jounce’s drug can activate effector T-cells to help fight cancer cells. JTX-2011 also aims to reduce the number of T regulatory cells that would otherwise dampen the immune response.
In Sept. 2016, the startup initiated a Phase 1/2 dose-escalation trial of JTX-2011. Jounce’s therapy is being investigated for use as a single agent or in combination with other therapies.
Photo: eyfoto, Getty Images
