What’s new: Biotech startup Everest Medicines Ltd. has filed for a Hong Kong IPO.
The money-losing Cayman-Islands incorporated firm, which focuses on licensing, testing and commercializing already developed drugs for cancer, autoimmune and other diseases, did not disclose details about the proposed offering in a preliminary prospectus Sunday.
The background: On June 5, Everest completed a $310 million series C fundraising round led by Hong Kong private equity fund Janchor Partners, Hillhouse Capital, RA Capital Management and Jiashan SDIC.
It said it would use the money from the offering to buy more drug licenses and fund the trial and potential commercialization of the eight drugs in its pipeline. These include Xerava, an antibiotic that has shown effectiveness against stubborn antibiotic resistant bacteria in the lab, and Etrasimod, which is in late-stage testing for the treatment of ulcerative colitis.
The three-year-old company told Caixin it expects six of the drugs to hit the market in the next four years.
Everest is just the latest mainland biotech firm to capitalize on changes to the Hong Kong bourse which allows money-losing drugmaking startups to list while their products are in development, on the assumption they will eventually return a profit.
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Contact reporter Flynn Murphy (flynnmurphy@caixin.com)
