Shares of MBX Biosciences MBX.O, which is developing therapies targeting endocrine and metabolic disorders including diabetes and obesity, rose nearly 44% in their Nasdaq debut on Friday.
The upbeat debut underscores growing investor interest in weight-loss drugs, which have proven effective in treating obesity and showing potential for reducing the risk of stroke and heart attack.
Shares opened at $23 each, valuing the biotech company at about $694 million.
MBX said Thursday it had raised $163.2 million from the sale of 10.2 million shares at $16 each (the upper end of its target range of $14 to $16 each) in its initial public offering.
USA IPO The market is on the mend, albeit unevenly, after a two-year dry spell amid hopes of a possible rate cut by the Federal Reserve and reduced market volatility.
MBX’s success is positive for the IPO market that entered a traditional summer lull following the debut of cold storage real estate investment trust LineageLINE.O in July, the largest this year.
MBX’s lead experimental candidate, MBX 2109, is being developed to treat chronic hypoparathyroidism, a condition in which the body produces insufficient levels of parathyroid hormone, which disrupts calcium levels in the blood and bones.
The company is also developing MBX 4291, an experimental therapy for the treatment of obesity that mimics the effect of two gut hormones, GLP-1 and GIP.
Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide LLY.N, sold as Zepbound for weight loss and Mounjaro for diabetes in the United States, also mimics the function of these two gut hormones.
Wall Street estimates that global annual sales of weight-loss drugs will reach $150 billion by the early 2030s.
Elsewhere, Bristol-Myers Squibb-backed Zenas BioPharma also debuted on the Nasdaq, with its shares up nearly 8%.
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