Rare Disease Drug Developer Electra Raises $350 Million in IPO

Rare disease drug developer Electra Therapeutics raised $350 million in an initial public offering (IPO).

According to BioPharma Dive on the 17th (local time), Electra secured $350 million in its IPO that day, becoming the 21st biotech company to issue new shares this year.

With Electra’s fundraising, the number of biotech companies that have raised more than $300 million in IPOs this year has risen to 11. BioPharma Dive tallied the total, which matches the 2021 record and exceeds the combined total for the following four years.

Electra plans to use the proceeds to develop a treatment for secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare immune disease. The condition is a life-threatening immune disorder with no approved treatments.

The candidate, itolizobart, is in a registrational clinical trial, and Electra expects to complete patient enrollment in the second half of 2027.

Electra is developing antibodies that target signal regulatory proteins (SIRPs). These proteins are found only on the surface of certain immune cells, allowing drugs that target them to treat specific immune diseases without broadly suppressing the body’s defenses.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said, “We believe our approach can contribute to immune-mediated diseases as precision oncology has to cancer.”

In patients with secondary HLH, overactivated white blood cells produce excessive cytokines, causing inflammation and damage to organs such as the liver, skin and brain. The condition is currently managed with a combination of steroids, chemotherapy and anti-cytokine drugs.

Itolizobart is being studied in a phase 2/3 trial in patients with secondary HLH, as well as in an early-stage trial in patients with certain blood cancers. Another candidate, the monoclonal antibody ELA822, recently entered phase 1.

Electra, formerly a subsidiary of biotech company startup Star Therapeutics, raised $183 million in venture funding last year from investors including Nextech Invest and EQT Life Sciences.

Electra will begin trading on Nasdaq on the morning of the 18th under the ticker symbol “ETRA.”