Health and Healthcare

Mapi Pharma Closes in on IPO

Chris Lange

Published: February 5, 2016 10:40 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 1:34 pm

Mapi Pharma has registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its initial public offering (IPO), and announced it the expected pricing terms in its most recent filing. The company expects to price its 3.125 million shares in the range of $15 to $17, with an overallotment option for an additional 468,750 shares. At the maximum price, the entire offering is valued up to about $61.1 million. The company intends to list on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol MAPI.

The underwriters for the offering are JMP Securities, FBR and Maxim Group.

This clinical stage pharmaceutical company is engaged in the development of improved extended-release versions of existing commercially successful products, which it refers to as life cycle management (LCM) products, that target large markets, as well as high-barrier to entry and high-added value generic drugs.

The LCM products are new forms of marketed drugs that Mapi believes may offer advantages over existing formulations, such as improved patient compliance and reduced side effects, and allow extended patent and regulatory exclusivity due to different formulations of product components, for example through depot or extended-release formulations. Its depot drugs are non-oral formulations containing multiple doses of a drug and are designed to release the drug over specified, often prolonged, periods. These LCM product candidates seek to add value to drugs that are expected to go off-patent by integrating off-patent active pharmaceutical ingredients with its formulations, resulting in a new final combination that they believe to be patentable.

Mapi’s lead product candidate is Glatiramer Acetate Depot, a once-monthly injection for the treatment of patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, in contrast to the daily 20 mg and the thrice-weekly 40 mg dosage of Copaxone, Teva’s approved product for the same indication. Branded Copaxone had sales of $4.2 billion in 2014.

The company is developing two other LCM products targeting large markets. Pregabalin ER is an extended release oral form of Lyrica, Pfizer’s Pregabalin-based drug, for the treatment of neuropathic pain and epilepsy, which had sales of $5.2 billion in 2014. And Risperidone LAI+ is a once-monthly depot formulation of Johnson & Johnson’s Risperdal Consta for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which had sales of $1.2 billion in 2014.

The net proceeds from the offering are intended to be used to expand the clinical development program, with the remainder put toward working capital and general corporate purposes.