Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. is $133.5 million richer after closing on its over-subscribed sale of common stock to fund the New Haven drug developer’s ongoing efforts to win federal clearance to market its antiviral formulations.
Achillion said Wednesday by the time the offering closed the same day, its underwriters had sold 16.9 million shares at $8.40 apiece. After broker commissions and underwriting fees, it netted at least $133.5 million.
The infusion gives the fledgling biopharma considerable financial breathing room.
It ended 2012 with $77.4 million in liquidity but estimated it would need $105 million total to meet 2013’s payroll and rent, plus the costs of regulatory filings and overseeing various stages of its clinical drug trials, particularly one of its most promising for combating hepatitis C.
Citigroup and Leerink Swann LLC acted as joint book-running managers, and JMP Securities LLC Piper Jaffray & Co. and Wells Fargo Securities LLC acted as co-managers for the offering.
