NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) — Molecular diagnostics firm Great Basin Scientific has priced a planned initial public offering of 1.15 million units, with each unit consisting of one share of common stock and one Series A warrant.
In a prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, the company priced its common shares at $7 per unit, up from a previously anticipated $6 per unit. In addition, the company has granted the representative of the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 172,500 additional shares of common stock, and/or 172,500 additional Series A warrants, or any combination thereof.
Great Basin said that it estimates the offering will bring in net proceeds of $6.6 million, or approximately $7.7 million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full. The company said that it plans to use about $1.4 million of the net proceeds for R&D, including $400,000 to fund clinical regulatory development and regulatory filings of new diagnostics tests for Group B Streptococcus.
In addition, Great Basin plans to use about $1.4 million for sales and marketing; $1.1 million to manufacture diagnostic analyzers; $200,000 to expand manufacturing capacity; and the remaining proceeds, if any, for general corporate purposes including working capital.
Salt Lake City-based Great Basin initially filed in August to go public on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Shares of the company began trading today under the ticker symbol "GBSN," and were down around 3 percent at $6.77 in early afternoon trade.
Great Basin's flagship product is a molecular testing platform called the Portrait Analyzer that combines nucleic acid amplification and array-based detection using a semiconductor chip. According to the company's amended S-1 filed with the SEC, the platform is designed to be more affordable and easier to use than other molecular testing systems.
The company currently provides its analyzer to customers free of charge in the US, and sells its diagnostic test, an assay for Clostridium difficile, which received US Food and Drug Administration clearance in April 2012. Great Basin is also developing tests for GBS, Staphylococcus identification and drug resistance, and a pre-surgical nasal screen for S. aureus.
As of Aug. 31 the company had 102 customers worldwide, including 80 in the US, who use an aggregate of 220 analyzers.
In the first half of 2014 Great Basin logged $752,000 in revenues, up from $241,000 in the first half of 2013. The company's net loss in the first half was approximately $6 million compared to $4.3 million in the same period in 2013.