Durham drug company Aldagen scraps IPO
Triangle Business Journal - by Chris Coletta
Durham drug company Aldagen has pulled its initial public offering.
Aldagen told the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 7 that it would no longer go through with its IPO, which was first proposed in May.
In its filing, Aldagen says it pulled the IPO due to “market conditions and its determination that registration of the Company’s securities is not in the best interest of the Company at this time.”
Company President Ed Field and CEO Tom Amick didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.
Aldagen is developing drugs based on adult stem cells. Such cells, isolated from bone narrow or umbilical cord blood, can be used for many different treatments – and indeed, Aldagen has four drugs now in human testing.
The company's lead drug, ALD-101, would improve blood transplants in pediatric patients with inherited metabolic diseases. Other drugs could help patients with childhood leukemia, damaged heart muscles or blocked extremities.
Aldagen has raised more than $50 million in loans and venture capital since its inception and is heavily tied with the local venture capital company. The company's biggest investor is Durham’s Intersouth Partners, which owned more than 40 percent of Aldagen as of June. Other major investors locally include The Aurora Funds of Durham, which owns 12 percent of the company.
Now, those investors must look elsewhere for an exit – as Aldagen has become the fourth Triangle company to fail in its attempts to go public since May 2007.
Consonus Technologies, a Cary data storage company, filed for an IPO in May 2007 but withdrew the offering earlier this year. Research Triangle Park-based Talecris Biotherapeutics filed to go public in July 2007 but ultimately got bought by Australia's CSL Ltd. for $3.1 billion. And Biolex Therapeutics of Pittsboro filed to go public in August 2007 but pulled its request earlier this year and raised $60 million in venture capital.
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