ADARx prices upsized IPO at $17 to raise $446 million; AbbVie's side purchase works out to about $89 million

ADARx Pharmaceuticals priced its initial public offering at $17 a share late Thursday, the top of its $15 to $17 range, and sold 26.25 million shares instead of the 21.875 million it had planned. The San Diego company said in its pricing release that gross proceeds are about $446.3 million. Reuters and Fierce Biotech both reported the upsized deal.

The shares are due to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market as "ADRX." As of about noon Eastern time on Friday they had not yet opened, according to Nasdaq quote data. The offering is expected to close on September 28. Underwriters can buy another 3,937,500 shares within 30 days, which would add about $66.9 million.

The AbbVie number is smaller than reported

AbbVie, which already has a licensing deal with ADARx, is buying stock in a private placement alongside the IPO at the same $17 price. Some coverage described that as a $100 million purchase. The company's release says something different: AbbVie will buy enough shares to own about 4.9% of the company, and "in no event" more than $100 million. The release puts combined gross proceeds from the IPO and the placement at about $535.2 million.

Subtract the $446.3 million IPO and AbbVie's check comes to roughly $88.9 million, or about 5.23 million shares. That squares with the 4.9% figure: using the 75,318,061 pre-IPO shares the prospectus counts as of June 30, plus the 26.25 million sold in the IPO, 5.23 million AbbVie shares is 4.9% of the total. The $100 million is a ceiling, not the amount.

What the market is paying for

Add the June cash to the new money and ADARx will hold something near $960 million before fees and before its spending since June. That is more than half of its $1.8 billion listing value. Investors are paying roughly $850 million for the pipeline itself, and less once the spending since June is counted. The filing says the company expects its cash to fund operations into 2030.

That pipeline is still in trials. The lead drug, agazisiran, is in three Phase 2 studies for complement-driven kidney, blood and eye diseases, with first data in IgA nephropathy, C3G and PNH expected in mid- to late 2027, according to the prospectus. A second drug, onvuzosiran, is in Phase 3 for hereditary angioedema, Fierce reported. None has been approved, and the company has no product sales.

Why it matters beyond one biotech

Selling 20% more stock than planned at the top of the range means demand ran ahead of supply in the order book. That is a signal to the other drug developers queuing for Nasdaq, including RNA-focused City Therapeutics, which filed this week (our coverage). It is happening while the 10-year Treasury yield sits above 5.2%, a level that usually makes investors less willing to fund companies whose revenue is years away.

What to watch: the opening trade, whether underwriters exercise the extra-share option, and the first Phase 2 readouts in 2027. Earlier coverage of the filing: ADARx sets its range.

Sources: ADARx pricing release (GlobeNewswire); ADARx Form S-1/A (SEC); Fierce Biotech; Reuters; Nasdaq. AbbVie share count, post-offering share count, market value and cash arithmetic are Chronicle calculations from the company's figures. This is market information, not investment advice.