After a promising start, biotech IPOs all but fizzled out this year, but LB Pharmaceuticals is hoping that won’t stymy its chances of completing a Nasdaq listing.
New York-based LB is hoping to raise up to $263 million by offering 16.7 million shares at a price of between $14 and $16, according to its IPO prospectus. If it succeeds, it will break the longest drought in biotech IPOs in the US in more than 10 years, according to investment bank and IPO expert Renaissance Capital.
Completing the IPO would give LB a market valuation over $300 million and provide the resources it needs to develop lead candidate LB-102, a derivative of the well-established generic antipsychotic drug amisulpride that has an improved ability to pass into the central nervous system.
LB is developing LB-102 for schizophrenia initially, and hopes to show that the drug can offer once-daily oral dosing – rather than twice-daily with amisulpride – and efficacy at a lower dose that can reduce the risk of side effects and improve the likelihood that patients will adhere to treatment.
Amisulpride was first introduced in the early 1990s in many markets around the world, and was widely used in Europe, although it was never launched in the US because it had a relatively short patent life that discouraged companies from making the investments in its clinical development. LB has said that, even if its efficacy simply matches amisulpride, LB-102’s profile could help it to annual sales of $1 billion or more.
The company – which is led by Heather Turner, who was chief executive of Carmot Therapeutics until its acquisition by Roche for $3.1 billion – has earmarked $133 million of the IPO proceeds to advance LB-102 through a phase 3 trial in schizophrenia and run supporting studies for a regulatory filing.
Another $25 million will be set aside to run a “potentially registrational” phase 2 trial of the drug in the follow-up indication of bipolar depression.
In January, LB reported the results of a 359-subject, phase 2 trial of LB-102, which demonstrated efficacy on schizophrenia symptoms at all doses tested, with a significant improvement on the widely-used Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) at four weeks.
The company has said it hopes to start its phase 3 study of LB-102 in the first quarter of 2026. It is also developing a long-acting injectable formulation of the drug that could be an option for patients with schizophrenia and bipolar depression who struggle to comply with daily oral dosing.
Given that the last biotech to go public on a US exchange was Apimeds Pharma back in early May, market watchers are hoping that LB’s attempt is a sign of a rebound in the last few months of the year, given that the pace of biotech IPOs in Asia has picked up in 2025.
Venture capital has been fairly active in compensating for the dearth in IPOs in the US over the last few months, which has been attributed to uncertainties in the markets surrounding drug pricing and a chaotic regulatory environment under the Trump administration.
