(Reuters) - A small Dutch company behind the Western world's first approved gene therapy priced its shares above the expected range in a U.S. stock offering on Wednesday, showing the current investor appetite for biotechnology. <\/p>\n
Amsterdam-based uniQure said it would sell 5.4 million shares at an initial public offering price of $17.00 each, netting it $81.9 million after expenses. It had previously indicated a price range of $13.00 to $15.00. <\/p>\n
The stock was trading just below the issue price at $16.80 by 1600 GMT. <\/p>\n
UniQure won approval in November 2012 to sell its drug Glybera in Europe and intends to start selling it as a treatment for the ultra-rare disease lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD) with partner Chiesi in the first half of 2014. <\/p>\n
The drug is likely to break new ground as the world's most expensive medicine, with a potential price tag of more than $1 million. A high price is needed because a single dose could last a lifetime, giving uniQure just one shot at recouping its investment. <\/p>\n
Chief Executive Jorn Aldag said in 2012 that Glybera could sell for around 250,000 euros a year for five years, implying a total price of 1.25 million euros ($1.6 million). <\/p>\n
The company has since said that no decision has been taken on price and its IPO prospectus also said it now believed that a one-time price, rather than an annuity-based system, was the most likely pricing model. <\/p>\n
Glybera is a modified virus that delivers the correct version of a gene into people afflicted with LPLD, a hereditary disorder that raises the risk of potentially lethal inflammation of the pancreas. <\/p>\n
Rare or so-called orphan diseases are winning increased attention from drug developers and several products from companies including Sanofi, Shire and Alexion already cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. <\/p>\n
UniQure is not the first gene therapy firm to float on Nasdaq. Bluebird Bio made its debut last June but the Cambridge, Mass.-based company has yet to win a regulatory green light for its products. <\/p>\n
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Gene therapy pioneer uniQure raises $82 million in U.S. IPO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Reuters) - A small Dutch company behind the Western world's first approved gene therapy priced its shares above the expected range in a U.S. stock offering on Wednesday, showing the current investor appetite for biotechnology. Amsterdam-based uniQure said it would sell 5.4 million shares at an initial public offering price of $17.00 each, netting it $81.9 million after expenses Continue reading