Braeburn Pharmaceuticals pulled its plans for a $150 million initial public offering yesterday, citing unstable market conditions.
The Princeton, N.J.-based company 1st announced plans to go public in late December and in mid-January, Braeburn said it planned to raise $150 million by offering 7,692,308 shares of its common stock at $18.00 to $21.00 apiece.
The company has developed a 6-month buprenorphine implant for the treatment of opioid addiction – the 1st device of its kind to be approved by the FDA. In November last year, the company touted data from a phase III trial of an injectable formulation of buprenorphine for opioid addiction. Braeburn also has additional product candidates in its pipeline that address therapeutic areas of focus such as pain, schizophrenia and spasticity.
Braeburn previously said it planned to use the $137.2 million in net proceeds from the offering to commercialize its injectable burprenorphine, Probuphine, and advance product candidates through clinical development.
Its decision to suspend IPO plans does not preclude the company and its sole shareholder, Apple Tree Partners, from considering an IPO in the future, Braeburn said according to Reuters.
The company cited the current market environment as the primary reason it’s pulling the plug on an IPO. The healthcare industry found itself in uncertain territory following the election, as President Donald Trump has accused drugmakers of “getting away with murder”, sending some major pharmaceutical companies down in the stock market.
As Republicans move to repeal and replace Obamacare, there is uncertainty over issues like patient access to medication. The new administration has also promised to speed up FDA approvals and ease regulations.
In a conversation with pharma executives from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Amgen (NSDQ:AMGN), Merck (NYSE:MRK) and Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), Trump pressed the companies to lower prices and increase U.S. production efforts.
Lilly and Merck told Reuters that they were encouraged by the President’s focus on innovation and that the meeting also touched upon issues like negotiating stronger trade agreements, tax reform and getting rid of outdated regulations.
“Tax, deregulation – those are things that could really help us expand operations,” Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said.
