Iambic Therapeutics, one of a growing number of biotech companies making artificial intelligence the center of its drug research strategy, raised $150 million in an IPO that will finance clinical development of cancer medicines designed to offer advantages over currently available therapies.
Late Wednesday, Iambic priced more than 9.37 million shares at $16 each, which was the midpoint of the price range set in preliminary financial terms last week. Those shares began trading on the Nasdaq Thursday under the stock symbol “IAM.”
San Diego-based Iambic has developed proprietary technologies that cover a molecule’s journey, everything from hit identification to clinical developability. The platform combines AI models with automated high-throughput experiments. According to the company, the continuous stream of experiments sharpens the platform’s predictions and search strategy as it learns from each test. Iambic calls its approach molecular superintelligence.
“Our goal is to prove, program after program, that better technology leads to better medicines — and that a platform built around molecular superintelligence has the potential to systematically improve the historical cost, time, and probability of success that have constrained drug development,” Iambic said in the IPO filing.
The Iambic platform can be used to discover new targets, but the company’s initial focus is developing drugs for validated cancer targets. The technology yielded lead program IAM1363, an inhibitor of the cancer protein HER2. It’s a target already drugged by antibodies, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), and oral small molecules.
In the filing, Iambic notes that HER2-driven tumors come with a high risk of spreading to the brain, out of reach of currently available therapies. IAM1363 is an oral small molecule designed to be selective to HER2 and to address multiple variants of this protein. It’s also designed to penetrate the brain to treat cancer that has metastasized there. Other potential advantages include overcoming drug resistance and reducing dose-limiting toxicities. Iambic says all of these drug properties were made possible by its molecular superintelligence platform.
IAM1364 is currently in Phase 1/1b testing in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors harboring HER2-alterations. In the filing, Iambic said it expects to begin a registrational trial as early as next year. The pipeline also includes IAM217, a KIF18A inhibitor, and IAM-C1, a dual CDK2/4 inhibitor. Both are on a path to enter clinical testing.
Iambic’s platform has attracted strategic partners such as AbbVie, Bayer, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck, Revolution Medicines, and Takeda Pharmaceutical. In the first half of this year, Iambic reported $12.7 million in collaboration revenue, up from $3.9 million in the same period last year.
Iambic formed in 2019, co-founded by CEO Tom Miller, who was a Caltech chemistry professor, and Chief Technology Officer Fred Manby, a former chemistry professor at the University of Bristol. The molecular superintelligence technology was developed in partnership with Nvidia, which is also an investor in the company.
Iambic emerged from stealth in 2023, revealing $100 million in funding and an early look at its preclinical pipeline. In its history as a private company, Iambic said it raised $536.5 million, most recently a $100 million round announced nearly a year ago. Catalio Capital Management is Iambic’s largest shareholder with an 8.9% post-IPO stake followed by Nexus Ventures’ 6.8% stake, according to the filing.
As of the end of the second quarter of this year, Iambic reported its cash position was $207.8 million. Combined with the IPO proceeds, Iambic expects to have enough capital to fund operations into the fourth quarter of 2028. The company plans to spend $75 million to complete IAM1363’s Phase 1 test and to start one or more phase 2 tests that could support an application seeking accelerated FDA approval. IAM217 and IAM-C1 will receive about $15 million each for their respective Phase 1/2 tests.
Iambic has also budgeted $20 million for continued investment in the superintelligence technology. In a 2023 interview, Miller described working with Iambic’s technology as an ongoing process.
“The reality of AI is that this is an incredibly fast-moving field,” he said. “What is differentiated today requires ongoing innovation to continue to be innovative in three years, in five years.”
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