NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Files IPO
February 16, 2007
By Jennifer Boggs, Staff Writer
With plans to advance its antimicrobial pipeline, NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Inc. filed for an initial public offering, looking for as much as $23 million to support development work and listings on both the American and Toronto stock exchanges under the symbol "NBY."
The company, which started operations in mid-2002 as NovaCal Pharmaceuticals Inc. and only recently changed its name to NovaBay, aims to exploit a platform based on its Aganocide compounds, broad-spectrum antimicrobials that have shown activity against a wide range of infections, from antibiotic-resistant bacteria to fungi, yeast and spores.
To date, the company’s funding, which includes about $11 million in private financing, has yielded a lead Aganocide compound, NVC-422, an analog of N-chlorotaurine and N,N-dichlorotaurine molecules, that demonstrated efficacy in animal models of chronic wounds, eye infections and ear infections.
Funding from the IPO is expected to be used for continued development of NVC-422. NovaBay intends to pursue in-house development and commercialization of drugs against hospital-related infections, and plans to submit an investigational new drug application this quarter for the drug in pre-surgery nasal decolonization.
Further trials are expected to follow in 2008 in catheter-associated urinary tract infections, dialysis access-associated infections, central venous catheter infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia.
At the same time, the company will be seeking partners to help with development in larger indication areas. The company already has one collaboration lined up. It signed a licensing agreement with eye care company Alcon Inc., of Fort Worth, Texas, in August 2006 to develop Aganocidebased compounds for use in the eye, ear and sinus, as well as in contact lens solutions. That deal brought NovaBay $10 million in technology access fees, and could result in future milestones and royalties.
In addition to research and development, NovaBay also expects to use funds for working capital and general corporate purposes.
For the first nine months of 2006, the company reported a net loss of $4.1 million. As of Sept. 30, its cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled about $13 million.
NovaBay ended the year with 31.8 million shares outstanding. Of those, Chairman and CEO Ron Najafi owns nearly 20 percent, about 6.2 million shares.
The company has 29 full-time employees and is based in Emeryville, California