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May 8, 2019

Trevi Therapeutics raises $55M in IPO

PHOTO | Contributed Jennifer Good, CEO of New Haven-based Trevi Therapeutics, was the BioCT Entrepreneur of the Year for 2017.
By Natalie Missakian

Trevi Therapeutics became the latest New Haven biotechnology company to go public on Tuesday, selling 5.5 million shares at $10 a share and raising $55 million.

The company, which is developing a drug for chronic itching, said it also raised $15 million in a separate private placement, for a total of $70 million.

The eight-year-old company, based at 195 Church Street, had previously hoped to raise the full $70 million through the IPO, but downsized the offering on Monday.

It initially planned to offer 4.7 million shares at $14 to $16 a share, according to an April SEC filing.

The stock, which debuted Tuesday on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol TRVI, opened at $9.50 a share on its first day of trading and closed at $7.80, 22 percent below the offering price. It was trading at $8.35 a share as of mid-morning Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a fund affiliated with the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates will purchase 1.5 million shares of common stock for $10 a share in the private placement offering, Trevi said in an announcement.

A spokeswoman for Trevi said Tuesday that company officials were unable to comment further.

Founded in 2011, Trevi has developed a new version of an older opioid, nalbuphine ER, which is already FDA-approved to treat pain.

Although it is an opioid, the drug is not considered a controlled substance and the federal government does not classify it as having a high potential for abuse.

Proceeds from the IPO will help fund Trevi’s late-stage clinical trials on the drug to treat severe chronic itching, according to the company.

The company is currently conducting a Phase 2b/3 trial on the drug in patients with severe itching caused by prurigo nodularis, a condition marked by itchy nodules on the skin.

The money will also fund research on the drug to treat chronic cough and a drug-induced movement disorder seen in Parkinson's disease patients.

Trevi is the third New Haven-area biotech to go public in just over a year. Cancer-drug developer Arvinas, based in Science Park, raised $120 million in an IPO last September, while BioXcel Therapeutics went public in March 2018, raising $60 million.

SVB Leerink, Stifel and BMO Capital Markets were joint bookrunning managers for Trevi’s IPO, with Needham & Co. acting as lead manager.

Contact Natalie Missakian at news@newhavenbiz.com

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