NEW YORK – Women's health diagnostics company Sera Prognostics went public on the Nasdaq on Thursday at $16 per share under ticker symbol "SERA."
Sera Prognostics late on Wednesday priced its initial public offering of 4,687,500 shares of its common stock at $16 per share for gross proceeds of $75 million. The offering is expected to close on July 19. Sera has granted the offering's underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 703,125 shares of its common stock at $16 per share less underwriting discounts. Citigroup Global Markets, Cowen, and William Blair were the joint bookrunning managers of the offering.
Sera uses its proteomics and bioinformatics platform to discover, develop, and commercialize biomarker tests. With an initial focus on improving pregnancy outcomes, its first commercial product is the PreTRM test, a blood-based biomarker test for predicting the risk of a preterm birth. The test uses the ratio of two proteins, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 4 to sex hormone-binding globulin, to predict preterm birth risk.
Earlier this year, Sera announced a collaboration with insurer Anthem and its subsidiary HealthCore on a study to assess whether the PreTRM test can improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare spending. In April, Sera said it raised $100 million in a Series E financing round to support commercialization of the test.
Last month, however, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry reported that tests for preterm risks, including the PreTRM test, failed to deliver high enough positive predictive value to make them clinically worthwhile.
In its Form S-1 registration statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June, Sera reported $25,000 in revenues and a net loss of $19.8 million, or $6.14 per share, attributable to its shareholders in 2020.
For the first quarter of 2021, ended March 31, it posted $13,000 in revenues with a net loss of $6.4 million, or $1.71 per share, attributable to its common shareholders.
Sera had $60.0 million in cash and cash equivalents as of March 31.