Trubion shares flat following IPO

Trubion Pharmaceuticals shares rose slightly in its first day trading, closing at $13.09 a share, giving it a starting market capitalization of $220 million.

The Seattle biotech company, which now trades under the ticker symbol TRBN, priced its initial public offering at $13 a share, the low end of the $13 to $15 range it had predicted. It sold 4 million shares to new investors, and another 800,000 shares to its drug development partner, Wyeth. The offering raised $62 million to advance Trubion's drug development programs against autoimmune diseases and cancer.

Trubion is the second Northwest life sciences company to go public this year, after medical device maker Northstar Neuroscience in May. Last week, Light Sciences Oncology indefinitely postponed its plans to go public. Trubion's IPO is the first in the biotech sector since Osiris Therapeutics went public in early August.

The markets have clearly been choppy for biotech. Through last week, there had been 14 biotech IPOs this year, according to industry magazine Signals, and seven have traded up, seven down from their initial price.

The company now has 72 employees, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its top shareholders after the IPO are Arch Venture Partners (13.9 percent), Frazier Healthcare Ventures (13.2 percent), Oxford Bioscience Partners (13 percent), Prospect Venture Partners (11 percent), and Venrock Associates (11 percent).

The company was founded in 2002 by a trio of high-profile scientists with experience at successful biotech companies Chiron, Immunex and Genetic Systems. Trubion is developing what it calls "small, modular immunopharmaceuticals" which have the ability to hone in on diseased cells like other biotech drugs, but in a smaller package that it believes may be more effective at penetrating bulky tissues.

It is currently testing TRU-015 against rheumatoid arthritis in a 280-patient, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. The company is also testing other drugs at earlier stages of development against cancer.

The underwriters were Morgan Stanley, Banc of America Securities, Pacific Growth Equities and Lazard Capital Markets. They were granted a 30-day option to buy 600,000 shares to cover over-allotments. The underwriters were paid $3.6 million in discounts and commissions.

Luke Timmerman: 206-515-5644 or ltimmerman@seattletimes.com