Clinical-stage biotech Aktis Oncology (AKTS), which counts Eli Lilly (LLY) among its partners, traded sharply higher after the cancer drug developer made its public debut on Nasdaq on Friday following an upsized initial public offering.
After pricing the IPO at $18.00 apiece, AKTS opened at $27.00 at about 11:00 AM ET, indicating a ~50% rise. The stock retraced some of the gains by around 12:00 AM ET to reach $23.36, implying a ~30% jump.
Boston, Massachusetts-headquartered Aktis (AKTS) initially planned to sell 11.775M shares at $16.00 – $18.00 apiece to raise about $212M in gross proceeds at a valuation of $840M at the top of the range.
Late Thursday, the company priced the offering of 17.65M shares at $18.00 per share to generate nearly $318M in gross proceeds, which it said would be used to fund the advancement of an ongoing Phase 1b trial for its lead asset [225Ac]Ac-AKY-1189.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Eli Lilly (LLY), which signed a collaboration agreement with the company in 2024, has shown interest in buying $100M worth of Aktis (AKTS) shares offered in the listing.