Harmony Bio and Inhibrx Raise Combined $247M in Public Market Debuts

Inhibrx (NASDAQ: INBX), a biotech in La Jolla, CA, pulled in $119 million to advance its Phase 1 programs, which are evaluating single-domain antibodies the company has designed to treat cancer and rare diseases. The treatment, approved last year for excessive daytime sleepiness in adults with the chronic sleeping disorder, is its first to reach the market—and the first alternative for patients that isn’t regulated as a controlled substance. The company, in its prospectus, said it plans to test pitolisant as a treatment for children with narcolepsy and in patients with excessive daytime sleepiness associated with Prader-Willi syndrome and with myotonic dystrophy. However, in the event the drug receives the FDA’s go-ahead as a treatment for another classic narcolepsy symptom, cataplexy (sudden muscle weakness), Harmony will be on the hook for a $102 million milestone payment to Bioprojet, the French company from which it acquired the compound’s US rights. Research firm Renaissance Capital said Monday that the while the IPO market’s annual summer slowdown was setting in, this August has been its most active since 2013.