Biopharma firm Arecor planning UK IPO

The net proceeds of the placing will be used to progress the company’s lead products; develop and expand its specialty hospital RTU and RTA products; and bolster working capital

Thrusting Cambridge biopharma business Arecor is planning a UK IPO. The company is advancing a robust portfolio of partnered and proprietary treatments from existing therapies to enable healthier lives.

Arecor CEO Sarah Howell said the IPO would enable the company to advance the development of its internal proprietary diabetes and specialty hospital products to a defined value inflexion point prior to potential partnering.

She added: In addition, it will allow us to create further value through the growth of our technology licensing partnerships where we leverage the ArestatTM technology to develop enhanced reformulations of our partners’ products, offering the potential for milestone and royalty payments in markets including novel biologics, biosimilars and vaccines.

Our two lead products are in clinical development for the treatment of diabetes where, despite advances in treatment options, there remain significant unmet needs, she said.

There are estimated to be 463 million people living with diabetes world-wide, with approximately 56 million insulin users. Through our ArestatTM technology, we are developing novel formulations of insulin with either enhanced ultra-rapid or ultra-concentrated rapid acting properties that have the potential to be life-changing for patients by enabling better management of their disease and greater use of new approaches such as the artificial pancreas and miniaturised pumps, she said.

Chairman Andy Richards added: Arecor’s technology and expertise has been validated through multiple partnerships with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

The company also has a balanced business model that offers the potential for significant returns associated with successful drug development but with reduced development risk through development of existing approved therapeutics products and partnering, he said.

As someone who has always championed the London market and has supported UK life-science companies to IPO in London I am very pleased Arecor has chosen to list on AIM.  Led by a strong team and board, Arecor has the potential to become a significant UK biopharmaceutical company and deliver benefits to patients and clinicians, he said.

The net proceeds of the placing will be used to progress the company’s lead diabetes products; develop and expand its pipeline of specialty hospital RTU and RTA products; build the team and bolster working capital and strengthen the balance sheet.

The directors believe the IPO will be an important step in the group's development and will assist its development by raising its public profile, widening its shareholder base, providing potential future access to development capital to progress its current and future pipeline of proprietary products and enabling it to expand within its chosen therapy areas and expand its commercial partnerships.

It will also provide the group with the ability to incentivise its employees through share incentive plans, which should assist it in continuing to attract, retain and motivate high calibre employees. Admission is expected to occur in early June.