NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – NanoString Technologies today said that it anticipates raising as much as $77.6 million in its initial public offering.
In its amended Form S-1 filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it expects to offer 5.4 million shares of its common stock at a price range of $13 to $15 per share. Based on the midpoint price of $14, net proceeds from the offering would be about $67 million, or $77.6 million, if the underwriters exercise their overallotment option in full.
The Seattle-based translational life science tools and molecular diagnostics firm announced its intention to go public last month. JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are joint book-running managers on the IPO, while Leerink Swann and R.W. Baird are acting as co-managers.
NanoString plans to list on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol "NSTG".
In its SEC document, the company said that it plans to use $25 million of the net proceeds to commercialize its Prosigna Breast Cancer Assay, a test comprised of 50 genes known as the PAM50 gene signature. In 2010, NanoString secured an exclusive worldwide license to PAM50.
The assay is CE marked and was launched in parts of Europe in February. The company filed a 510(k) application with the US Food and Drug Administration for the assay in December. Since then, the FDA has asked NanoString for additional information for its review of the 510(k), it said in its SEC document, but added that it anticipates launching Prosigna in the first quarter of 2014, following FDA clearance.
NanoString said that it plans to use about $15 million of net proceeds to expand the clinical utility of Prosigna and to develop other diagnostics.
Additionally, the company plans to direct $15 million toward expansion of its life sciences commercial operations to grow and support the installed base of NanoString's nCounter Analysis Systems among researchers in the US and abroad. The platform is used for gene expression, copy number variation, and microRNA analysis, and NanoString plans on using $10 million to further develop new life sciences applications, chemistry, and instrumentation for the platform.
Remaining net proceeds will go toward working capital and other general corporate purposes, it said.
NanoString raised $15.3 million in a Series E Preferred Stock financing round in December. Before that, it raised $20 million in a Series D financing round in late 2011.