WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) – Cardiovascular diagnostic test maker BG Medicine Inc. expects to receive net proceeds of nearly $60 million with an initial public offering of stock anticipated later this week.
The Waltham, Mass., company expects to sell 4.75 million shares for between $13 and $15 per share. It will grant underwriters an option to purchase an additional 712,500 shares to cover excess demand, which could stretch net proceeds to $68.8 million, according to a registration statement filed recently with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It plans to use proceeds to pay for the commercial launch of its lead product, the BGM Galectin-3 test for heart failure. The test measures blood plasma or serum levels of galectin-3, a protein that has been shown to play an important role in heart failure.
BG Medicine received Food and Drug Administration clearance last month for a manual version of the test. But it said automated versions are needed to gain broad customer acceptance and clinical adoption.
The company reached agreements with Abbott Laboratories, Alere Inc. and bioMérieux SA to include its test on automated laboratory instruments. It said it believes one or more of these companies will be able to seek FDA clearance no later than the fourth quarter of next year. It then expects an automated instrument version of its test to be available in the first half of 2012.
BG Medicine also is developing other cardiovascular diagnostic products, including LipidDx, which helps manage lipid disorders. It said current disease treatment often relies on trial and error and the characterization of a disease based on signs and symptoms.
“We believe that our diagnostic tests can play a central role in the solution to this important medical challenge by better matching patients with appropriate treatments and enabling early detection and characterization of diseases, leading to more effective and often lower cost treatments,” the registration statement said.
The company lost $14.6 million in the first nine months of this year, on $620,000 in revenue. It has built a deficit of about $92 million as of September and expects to incur “substantial” net losses for the next several years. But it said the offering will allow it to meet cash requirements at least through 2012.
UBS Investment Bank is the sole book-running manager for the offering. Lazard Capital Markets is lead manager. Baird and Cowen and Co. are co-managers.
The company has applied to have its common stock listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol “BGMD.”
Date: December 14, 2010
Source: Associated Press