Stablepharma considers IPO, Series B round to bring vaccines to market – CEO
08:00 CEST, 5 April 2023
Stablepharma, a UK developer of the world’s first fridge-free vaccines, is evaluating an IPO and a financing round to bring two vaccines to market, CEO Özgür Tuncer told Mergermarket.
The business will take a decision after the summer on whether to pursue the listing or a Series B, Tuncer said, adding that it has been receiving “strong interest” from investors and plans to engage more actively from May.
Ahead of an IPO, Stablepharma could raise up to GBP 5m in bridge financing, at the end of this year or the beginning of 2024, he said. An IPO to raise GBP 15m to GBP 20m would be in late 2024, he said, adding that the company is looking at London and NASDAQ as potential listing venues.
Stablepharma will appoint an investment bank for a listing, he said. It is already in talks with some candidates and is interested in hearing from others with expertise in biotech and the life sciences, he added.
If the IPO market does not improve in the upcoming months, Stablepharma will instead raise capital via an around EUR 20m Series B round, which it expects would take place by early 2024, Tuncer said.
For the Series B, Stablepharma will target strategic and financial investors with expertise in the life sciences, as well as impact investors, he said. Investors with deep pockets and a long-term investment horizon are welcome, he added.
To date, the business has raised more than GBP 7m in equity, he said. Its Series A post money valuation was GBP 41.4m, he added.
The new capital will allow Stablepharma to bring its first two vaccines – SPVX02 for tetanus and diphtheria (Td) and SPVX06 for tetanus – to market in 2025, to advance its room temperature stable mRNA/LNP programme, and to secure worldwide rights for other vaccines, Tuncer said, adding that the fridge-free technology will work with approximately 60 currently approved vaccines.
It will invest the funds in clinical trials, regulatory approval in the UK and in Europe, and possibly to set up its own manufacturing capabilities, he said. As Stablepharma uses already approved vaccines with proven safety and potency, the clinical trials will be shorter and faster, he said.
The company is also in talks with large pharmaceutical companies about cooperating to bring to market fridge-free mRNA/LNP vaccines, he said.
StablevaX ‘(TM)’, the company’s technology platform, converts existing approved vaccines to a fridge-free status. By housing the pre-dose and stable vaccine in a syringe, it ensures safe, efficient and waste-free delivery without the need for the cold chain, Tuncer said. The reformulated StablevaX ‘(TM)’-Td vaccine has been shown to be thermostable for up to 12 months at +45 °C without any degradation of potency, he added.
The company has a team of 15 and expects to grow the headcount to 20 by year end, he said. At the moment, Stablepharma has a manufacturing agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific [NYSE:TMO] which produces the products.
Stablepharma was founded in 2012 and became operational after a seed round in 2019, Tuncer said. Besides its UK headquarters, it has an R&D centre in Madrid.
In December 2022, the company raised a GBP 5.2m Series A. Its founders – Chairman of the board Dr Bruce Roser and Vice President Nick Child – have a significant share in the business, Tuncer said. Other investors include Hamilton Portfolio, Oval Investments, Ascension and CrowdCube.
by Laura Larghi