Telix Pharmaceuticals is no longer going to list on the Nasdaq, the company announced Thursday evening, pulling its US IPO shortly before it was to start trading.
Telix was planning for a roughly $200 million initial public offering, and was expected to list Friday under the ticker $TLX. The radiopharmaceutical company already trades on the Australian Stock Exchange, and had a market cap of $5.5 billion as of Wednesday.
The decision to pull the listing appears to have been a last-minute call: The biotech on Thursday had asked the Australian Stock Exchange for its shares to be halted in anticipation of the US pricing announcement.
“Given the proposed Nasdaq listing was not predicated on the need to raise capital, Telix’s management and Board of Directors have decided not to move forward with the transaction at the terms provided under current market conditions,” Telix said in a statement. “The company did not feel that the proposed discounts were aligned with its duty to its existing shareholders.”
Telix CEO Christian Behrenbruch described it as “not our desired outcome.”
The North Melbourne, Australia-based radiopharmaceutical company is developing both therapeutics and imaging agents. Telix currently markets two radioisotope diagnostic agents and is waiting on an FDA decision for two more. It’s also working on experimental treatments for prostate cancer, kidney cancer and brain cancer.
Telix had previously said it was planning to use its initial proceeds from the Nasdaq listing to fund a Phase 3 study of its kidney cancer radiotherapy and a Phase 2/3 study of its treatment for glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Radiopharmaceuticals have been a hot area for dealmaking. In May, Novartis announced a $1 billion deal for Mariana Oncology. Novartis’ prostate cancer treatment Pluvicto could potentially become the first radioligand treatment to reach blockbuster status with $1 billion in yearly sales. Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca have also all inked billion-dollar-plus deals of their own.
The pulled listing could mark a speed bump for a potential second wave for biotech IPOs this year, as industry insiders and private companies await stronger signals to make a move to the public market, especially with the US Federal Reserve signaling it may only make one rate cut this year.
Most of the winter and spring biopharma IPOs have underperformed — failing to boost confidence in an IPO market that’s been relatively in the cold for three years now.
Telix’s listing would’ve come a week after clinical-stage neuroscience biotech Rapport Therapeutics had a strong debut. Alzheimer’s biotech Aprinoia Therapeutics, cancer drugmaker Actuate Therapeutics and late-stage autoimmune startup Alumis are all on file and more, like Upstream Bio, are reportedly in line for their shot on Wall Street.