Trevi Therapeutics became the latest New Haven biotechnology company to go public on Tuesday, selling 5.5 million shares at $10 a share and raising $55 million.
The company, which is developing a drug for chronic itching, said it also raised $15 million in a separate private placement, for a total of $70 million.
The eight-year-old company, based at 195 Church Street, had previously hoped to raise the full $70 million through the IPO, but downsized the offering on Monday.
It initially planned to offer 4.7 million shares at $14 to $16 a share, according to an April SEC filing.
The stock, which debuted Tuesday on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol TRVI, opened at $9.50 a share on its first day of trading and closed at $7.80, 22 percent below the offering price. It was trading at $8.35 a share as of mid-morning Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a fund affiliated with the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates will purchase 1.5 million shares of common stock for $10 a share in the private placement offering, Trevi said in an announcement.
A spokeswoman for Trevi said Tuesday that company officials were unable to comment further.
Founded in 2011, Trevi has developed a new version of an older opioid, nalbuphine ER, which is already FDA-approved to treat pain.
Although it is an opioid, the drug is not considered a controlled substance and the federal government does not classify it as having a high potential for abuse.
Proceeds from the IPO will help fund Trevi’s late-stage clinical trials on the drug to treat severe chronic itching, according to the company.
The company is currently conducting a Phase 2b/3 trial on the drug in patients with severe itching caused by prurigo nodularis, a condition marked by itchy nodules on the skin.
The money will also fund research on the drug to treat chronic cough and a drug-induced movement disorder seen in Parkinson’s disease patients.
Trevi is the third New Haven-area biotech to go public in just over a year. Cancer-drug developer Arvinas, based in Science Park, raised $120 million in an IPO last September, while BioXcel Therapeutics went public in March 2018, raising $60 million.
SVB Leerink, Stifel and BMO Capital Markets were joint bookrunning managers for Trevi’s IPO, with Needham & Co. acting as lead manager.
Contact Natalie Missakian at news@newhavenbiz.com
