NEW YORK (360Dx) – Cell-based cancer diagnostics firm Celcuity on Wednesday filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of $15 million.
The Minneapolis-based firm has not priced its shares yet or said how many shares it intends to offer. It plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol "CELC." Craig-Hallum Capital is the underwriter for the offering.
In its Form S-1, Celcuity called itself a cellular analysis firm focused on discovering new cancer subtypes and commercializing diagnostic tests to improve the clinical outcomes of patients treated with targeted cancer therapies. It added that its technology called CELx uses a patient's tumor cells to identify abnormal cellular activity driving their cancer and the most appropriate therapy for the cancer.
"This enables us to diagnose new cancer subtypes molecular diagnostics cannot detect and measure directly the effectiveness of the matching targeted therapy in a patient's living tumor cells," Celcuity said.
It said that molecular tests provide only a snapshot of the genetic mutations in a patient's tumor, based on dead cells. As a result, molecular technologies cannot analyze cellular activities in real time, also known as cell signaling. CELx can, however, allowing it to offer a more accurate diagnosis of the patient's cancer driver.
Secondly, molecular diagnostics can only estimate the probability of a patient's potential drug response, based on a statistical analysis of the drug's clinical trial results. In contrast, CELx tests directly measures the efficacy of a targeted therapy in a patient's living tumor cells, which enables physicians to confirm that a drug will be functional in the patient's tumor cells before a regimen is begun, "which significantly increases the likelihood of a positive clinical outcome," Celcuity said.
Proceeds from the IPO would go toward R&D efforts, the development of Celcuity's operational processes, the launch of its business development activities to drug firms, and financial investments.
In 2016, Celcuity posted a net loss of $3.3 million, or $.01 per share. Through the first six months of 2017, it had a net loss of $2.8 million, or $.01 per share. The firm had $10.9 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of June 30.
Brian Sullivan is the chairman and CEO of Celcuity. Its CSO is Lance Laing, and Vicky Hahne is its CFO.