The IPO Buzz: Kyverna Therapeutics (KYTX Proposed) Increases IPO by Nearly 50 Percent

Kyverna Therapeutics (KYTX Proposed) increased its IPO’s size by 48.5 percent early today – Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 – by raising both the number of shares and the price range, according to an S-1/A filing. The new terms: 14.5 million shares – up from 11.12 million originally – at $20.00 to $21.00 – up from  $17.00 to $19.00 originally – to raise $297.25 million – a jump of 48.5 percent from the original estimated IPO proceeds of $200.16 million. (Both estimates of the IPO’s proceeds are based on mid-point pricing of the respective ranges.) Kyverna, a Phase 2 clinical biotech targeting autoimmune disorders, plans to price its IPO on Wednesday night (Feb. 7, 2024) to trade Thursday (Feb. 8, 2024)  on the NASDAQ.

J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Leerink Partners and Wells Fargo Securities are the joint book-runners.

Kyverna disclosed its initial terms and launched its IPO last Thursday – Feb. 1 – for pricing this week.

Lupus Nephritis and MS in Focus

Based in Emeryville, California, Kyverna is developing cell therapies for patients with autoimmune disorders. Its lead program, KYV-101, is  an autologous CD19 CAR T-cell product candidate made from an underlying chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, that Kyverna has licensed from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Two autoimmune disease areas are in Kyverna’s sights: rheumatology and neurology, Its initial rheumatology focus for KYV-101 is on lupus nephritis (LN) and systemic sclerosis (SSc). The company is conducting two clinical trials of KYV-101 in patients with LN, an autoimmune disease in which more than half of the patients do not achieve a complete response to current therapies and are at risk of developing kidney failure. The company received an Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance in October 2023 from the FDA for a Phase 1/Phase 2 study in SSc.

 Kyverna’s neurology work with KYV-101 will focus on myasthenia gravis (MG), for which it received IND clearance in November 2023 for a Phase 2 study, and multiple sclerosis (MS), for which it received IND clearance in December 2023 for a Phase 2 study.

The California biotech is also in a partnership with Intellia Therapeutics, a leader in the field of gene editing, to develop KYV-201, an allogeneic CD19 CAR T-cell product candidate to treat other autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Like most biotechs at the time they go public, Kyverna is not profitable, according to the prospectus.

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