Pharma startup pursues small IPO

Westport’s Intensity Therapeutics developing cancer drug for injection directly into tumors

As it continues studies on potential drugs for cancer, a Westport startup is expected to hold its initial public offering of stock on Friday — but with a relatively small haul compared to other biotech IPOs, despite what it has described as promising results in clinical trials.

Intensity Therapeutics’ treatment is formulated to be injected directly into solid tumors, essentially saturating tumors with what it calls “immune cells” that destroy those malignant growths and help the body generate natural defenses against any recurrence.

The company says that is an effective treatment for tumors in advanced stages, either as an alternative to intravenous or oral drugs that reach target tumors through the blood stream and which can attack healthy cells along the way, with accompanying side effects for patients. Intensity says early clinical tests have shown “minimal” side effects, largely pain where the injection was administered.

“Tumor regressions with killing of the cancer cells is widely observed in injected lesions,” Intensity stated in an IPO filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “Many patients who had exhausted all approved treatments for their type of cancer benefited from our product candidate.”

Intensity’s initial drug candidate is in phase 2 clinical trials that are a precursor to applying for Federal Drug Administration approval, with the FDA having yet to give the go-ahead for phase 3 trials. For a parallel trial in Canada, patients lined up on the possibility of a drug that might destroy the large majority of their tumor before surgery, and the possibility of an anti-cancer immune response.

The company is aiming to reel in nearly $10 million in its IPO, depending on investor demand for the new stock. Over the past five years, just 11 biotech companies raised $10 million or less via an IPO, of about 285 tracked by Biopharma Dive.

Cancer is the predominant focus of those companies, with more than 130 companies developing treatments with IPO cash they raised between 2018 and 2022. Stamford was home to one of the biggest success stories, after Loxo Oncology’s cancer drug elicited an $8 billion buyout by Eli Lilly in 2019, just five years after it raised $68 million in an IPO.

In 2018, Arvinas raised $120 million in an IPO and additional amounts since to push its total valuation to $2.2 billion as of Thursday. Arvinas has reported cancer patients tolerating its oral drug with little distress from side effects, and promising medical outcomes from its therapeutic approach called targeted protein degradation. Focused initially on breast and prostate cancer, the company is looking to broaden its pipeline to address other solid tumors and in time degenerative neurological disorders.

Intensity is hoping for a similar escalation in value as it continues its trials. The company will split 70 percent of the proceeds to cover its existing drug trials and general corporate needs, with most of the rest to fund new studies of the effect of its therapies on early-stage breast cancer and soft-tissue sarcomas.

Intensity has been operating from a modest office in Westport under CEO Lewis Bender, who could not be reached immediately on Thursday in advance of the

IPO. Between his own contributions and those from outside investors, Bender raised $32 million for Intensity since its launch in 2012. After spending $4.3 million to fund its drug trials and operations in the first six months of t his year, Intensity entered July with $1.7 million in cash.

The company filed notice a year ago of its plans to hold an initial public offering of stock, having reserved the symbol “INTS” on the Nasdaq. In its most recent filing with the SEC, the company says the IPO proceeds should be sufficient to cover its costs through December 2023.

Bender previously led Interleukin Genetics, a Massachusetts company that was working on treatments for inflammatory diseases but shut down in 2017 before getting a product to market.

Intensity’s chief medical officer Ian Walters joined in 2014, having worked previously on the breakthrough immuno-oncology drug Yervoy that is sold by Bristol

Myers Squibb. Arvinas CEO John Houston was among those who led commercial development of Yervoy at Bristol Myers Squibb.

Intensity has been investigating the effect of its drug candidate both as a solitary treatment and in combination with Yervoy. Intensity is also testing its drug in combination with Merck’s Keytruda antibody used to fight cancer. Keytruda was the fourth best selling drug in the world last year, after the COVID-19 vaccines and AbbVie’s Humira drug to treat arthritis, Crohn’s disease and other conditions.