Malin-backed Poseida Therapeutics files for IPO on Nasdaq exchange

Poseida Therapeutics, a company in which Dublin-listed life-sciences investment group Malin has a significant stake, has filed for a potential initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq exchange for the second time.

The moves comes just over a year after the clinical-stage biotech company surprised market watchers when it decided not to proceed with a similar application and instead raised $142 million from backers, including Malin, in a Series C round.

Poseida is a human therapeutics company using genome engineering technologies to develop new, life-saving treatments, including gene therapies for rare liver diseases and immuno-oncology therapeutics for several types of cancer.

The company is currently developing gene therapies for liver diseases and autologous chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies.

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Malin took a 33 per cent stake in Poseida in late 2015 in a deal valued at $30 million.

The investment company raised €330 million in early 2015 from international investors in its debut on the Irish Stock Exchange in one of the largest life-science IP0 ever to take place in Europe.

However, the company has seen its share price tumble since the flotation to such a degree that last year it now focused on just four main assets, one of which is Poseida.

The value of the company’s portfolio of investments declined 9 per cent to €366 million over the course of last year, in part due to the sale of its stake in 3D4Medical.

Immunocore, an Oxford-based biotech company in which Irish life-sciences investment company Malin has a 10 per cent stake, recently raised more than $130 million as it continues development of novel T cell receptor (TCR)-based therapies with the potential to treat a variety of cancers, viral infections and autoimmune diseases.

The other priority assets currently backed by Malin are Kymab, which is working on a treatment for eczema, and Viamet, which focuses on antifungal products.

Malin also has four "growth potential" assets: Wren Therapeutics, Artizan Biosciences, Altan and Xenex.

The investment company warned earlier this year it expects some brief delays in clinical trails conducted by investee companies amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, it also said Xenex, in which it has a 10 per cent stake, has seen a “huge surge” in demand for its germ-zapping robots as health systems around the world seek to minimise the spread of Covid-19 in hospitals.