The IPO Buzz: Contineum Therapeutics Prices Downsized IPO at $16.00 – Low End

Contineum Therapeutics (CTNM), a Phase 1/Phase 2 biotech, priced its downsized IPO at $16.00 – the low end of its $16.00-to-$18.00 range – on Thursday night, April 4, 2024. The deal’s size was slashed to 6.88 million shares (6,875,000 shares) – down from 8.8 million shares in the prospectus. Contineum Therapeutics raised $110.0 million – well below the estimated IPO proceeds of $150 million, which was based on pricing at the $17.00 mid-point.  The stock is expected to start trading on Friday morning, April 5, 2024, on the NASDAQ. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Stifel and RBC Capital Markets are the joint book-runners. The low-end pricing reflected an increasing sense of caution among IPO investors about early-stage biotech IPOs after a couple of recent flops – Boundless Bio (BOLD) last week and Metagenomi (MGX) in early February. The shift in sentiment yesterday on Contineum’s IPO indicated that IPO investors decided to pay less attention to this Phase 1/Phase 2 biotech’s promise – reflected in $50.0 million from Johnson & Johnson in 2023 license and collaboration revenue – and to focus more on protecting themselves from a potential loss on a fairly early-stage biotech IPO. Contineum Therapeutics, based in San Diego, is developing PIPE-307, its oral drug candidate to treat depression and relapse remitting MS, in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson. PIPE-307 is in a Phase 2 trial to treat relapse remitting MS, the prospectus says. PIPE-307 is a novel small molecule selective inhibitor of the muscarinic type 1 M1 receptor (M1R), according to the prospectus. Contineum Therapeutics is also developing a wholly owned drug candidate, known as PIPE-791, to treat IPF (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis) and progressive multiple sclerosis (progressive MS). (For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.) Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions. Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.