Xconomy San Diego — Poseida Therapeutics, which is testing CAR-T cell therapies for blood-borne and solid tumor cancers, has laid the groundwork for an initial public offering. In documents filed with securities regulators Friday, the San Diego company set a preliminary IPO target of $115 million. The company has applied for a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol “PSTX.” CAR-T therapies deploy T cells that have been engineered to kill cancer. These cells, programmed to act aggressively, have in some cases led to significant side effects, however. Results for the first two CAR-T products approved, both in 2017, have varied. Poseida said its treatments are intended to address the challenges of early-generation CAR-T therapies, including duration, tolerability, and scalability. The company said it plans to use the IPO proceeds to continue funding clinical development of its lead drug candidate, an CAR-T product for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, and to continue developing its preclinical drug candidates and research. It may also use some of the money to start a pilot manufacturing facility, which would cost as much as $15 million, Poseida said in the filing. Poseida’s lead candidate, P-BCMA-101, is in Phase 1 testing. The investigational drug is targeting BCMA, a protein found on the surface of cancerous B cells in the bone marrow. The study is funded in part by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Poseida said it plans to move the therapy into a Phase 2 trial by June. It is also developing a CAR-T product candidate using cells from a healthy donor rather than the patient—a so-called allogeneic therapy. Poseida said it aims to make and store the candidate, P-BCMA-ALLO1, for future use. If all goes as planned, it will enter Phase 1 testing by early 2020, the company said. Another therapy Poseida is developing, P-PSMA-101, is being developed for patients with a form of prostate cancer that continues to spread even after a patient’s testosterone levels have been significantly reduced. The company said it plans to begin Phase 1 testing of P-PSMA-101 in the second half of this year. And P-MUC1C-101, another CAR-T, is in late-stage preclinical development for multiple solid tumor cancers. That could enter clinical testing in 2020, the company said. Even if Poseida meets its goal and raises $115 million in the IPO, eventually it will have to raise additional cash, according to the filing. Poseida is headed by CEO Eric Ostertag. He founded Kentucky-based gene editing technology company Transposagen, which Poseida was spun out from in 2015. The company has since raised $74.8 million, borrowed $20 million, and received $15 million of a total $23.8 million awarded in grant funding from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, according to regulatory documents. The company reported net losses of $19.7 million in 2017 and $31.5 million in the first nine months of 2018. Sarah de Crescenzo is an Xconomy editor based in San Diego. You can reach her at sdecrescenzo@xconomy.com.
CAR-T cell therapy company Poseida Therapeutics is seeking to raise $115m in an initial public offering (IPO), according to papers filed with securities regulators. The company, which has been developing a treatment for multiple myeloma, said it plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq exchange under ticker symbol PRXT. The company wants to use any IPO proceedings to further fund clinical development and research of its CAR-T treatment for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. It may also set up a pilot manufacturing unit, with an estimated cost of up to $15m, the filing showed.