LONDON—The biotech startup behind the Covid-19 vaccine jointly developed by AstraZeneca PLC and the University of Oxford filed Friday with U.S. regulators for a public share offering.
Vaccitech PLC said in a securities filing it plans to use the technology underpinning the vaccine to develop treatments targeting prostate cancer, hepatitis B and human papillomavirus. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the IPO filing could come as soon as this week. The U.K.-based company plans to list on New York’s Nasdaq with the ticker symbol VACC.
The company was started by two Oxford scientists who helped lead the Covid-19 vaccine development and who spun Vaccitech out of the university in 2016, with the goal of turning laboratory discoveries into commercial products. A key part of the vaccine technology uses an altered form of chimpanzee cold virus to ferry genetic material into humans to boost the immune system and fight infection.
Vaccitech has been aiming for a listed valuation of around $700 million, with backers estimating it could be a $1 billion company by year-end, The Journal reported last month. The company recently raised $168 million in new funding as a step toward a share offering.
It had $4.8 million in revenue last year and a loss of about $17.7 million and hasn’t generated any revenue from product sales, according to Friday’s filing. It said Vaccitech aims to raise $100 million—a figure generally put in debut IPO filings as a placeholder to be adjusted during marketing of the company.
