Ascentage Pharma, a Hong Kong-listed blood cancer biotech, is planning a dual listing in the US as it prepares for additional drug launches, it said Sunday evening.
The biotech, which has offices in China, the US and Australia, looks to expand its capital base a week after inking a $75 million equity investment with Takeda. The company didn’t disclose how much it plans to raise in the US float.
A move onto the US markets is no guarantee as biotech IPOs remain relatively bleak, though a few are lining up. Another biotech that attempted a dual listing earlier this month, the Australian-listed Telix Pharmaceuticals, ended up backing out of a Nasdaq debut at the last minute.
Ascentage has a broad pipeline for investors to dig into. The company boasts nine clinical-stage candidates and more than 40 human trials, including five global Phase 3 studies.
It already markets a chronic myeloid leukemia treatment in China. The drug, known as olverembatinib, brought in about $27 million in sales last year, reaching commercial breakeven, the company has said. Takeda bought exclusive olverembatinib rights, save for China and certain other regions, earlier this month.
The company also plans to bring another cancer drug to market in the near term, with an approval filing in China this year and potential launch next year for its Bcl-2 inhibitor lisaftoclax. The FDA has also cleared global registrational trials for both olverembatinib and lisaftoclax, Ascentage has said.
A US listing would occur a little under five years after it went public on the Hong Kong stock exchange, raising about $53 million at the time.
Aside from cancer, Ascentage is also working in the areas of chronic hepatitis B and age-related diseases. In the latter field, it’s licensed out a library of molecules to Unity Biotechnology.