Reuters: Global Markets: Agios Pharma shares soar in market debut

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Agios Pharma shares soar in market debut Jul 24th 2013, 18:53 Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:53pm EDT (Reuters) - Shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc AGIO.O rose as much as 69 percent in their market debut on Wednesday, valuing the company at about $895.80 million. Agios' shares opened at $29 on the Nasdaq and touched a high of $30.49. The offering of 5.9 million common shares was priced at $18 per share, above the expected price range of $14 to $16 per share. Agios raised $106.2 million from the offering. "The reason (why the stock is up) is the collaboration income. In this particular case, Celgene, their affiliate bought into the IPO. This is a big rubber stamp of approval," said John Fitzgibbon, founder of Iposcoop.com. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Agios has a collaboration agreement for its cancer metabolism drugs with Celgene Corp (CELG.O), which also holds a 17 percent stake in the company. Celgene has agreed to buy 850,000 shares of Agios' common stock in a private placement. (link.reuters.com/puj89t) Agios, which began operations in late-2008, is developing drugs to treat cancer and inborn errors of metabolism IEM. The company intends to use net proceeds from the IPO, along with existing cash resources of $115.8 million, to fund clinical development of its drugs in its cancer and IEM programs. Agios expects to begin human trials of its lead drug in mid-2013, which aims to target a mutated protein found in many forms of solid cancer and blood cancer. JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs & Co were the lead underwriters for the offering. The company's were up 61 percent at $29 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. (Reporting By Vrinda Manocha in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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