Ipsoprubart

Rare disease drugmaker Electra Therapeutics on Thursday banked $350 million in an initial public offering, becoming the 21st biotechnology company to price a new stock issuance in 2026. Electra plans to use the proceeds to continue developing an experimental drug for secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis or “HLH,” a rare, sometimes life-threatening immune disorder with no approved treatments. That drug, called ipsoprubart, is in a registrational trial. Electra expects to complete enrollment in the second half of 2027. With Electra’s haul, 11 biotechs have raised more than $300 million in their IPOs in 2026, matching 2021’s total and surpassing what was seen in the previous four years combined, according to BioPharma Dive data In the first biotech IPO after Labor Day, Electra proved there’s still a large appetite in the public markets for clinical-stage drugmakers. Every one of the 21 biotech companies that have gone public this year had a drug in human testing. And all eleven firms that have banked $300 million or more had, like Electra, a drug in at least Phase 2 development. Electra is working on antibodies aimed at “signal regulatory proteins,” or SIRPs. These proteins are only found on the surface of certain immune cells, so targeting them with a drug could tackle certain immunological conditions without broadly suppressing the body’s defenses. With ipsoprubart, Electra is testing whether depleting myeloid and T cells expressing these proteins will have this kind of pinpoint effect. “[W]e believe our approach can do for immune-mediated diseases what precision oncology has done for cancer, transforming the treatment paradigm for patients,” the company wrote in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In patients with secondary HLH, overactive white blood cells overproduce cytokines, leading to inflammation that damages organs like the liver, skin and brain. Secondary HLH is managed with a mix of steroids, chemotherapy and anti-cytokine medicines. Some patients also receive a drug approved for the primary, inherited form of the disease if earlier treatment fails. Alongside the ongoing Phase 2/3 study in secondary HLH, ipsoprubart is also involved in an early-stage study in patients with certain blood cancers. Another Electra prospect, a monoclonal antibody called ELA822, recently entered Phase 1 testing and is being developed for other T-cell related inflammatory conditions. Last year, Electra, a former subsidiary of the biotech company creator Star Therapeutics, secured $183 million in venture funding from backers including Nextech Invest and EQT Life Sciences. Another company from Star, Vega Therapeutics, was acquired by Incyte in June in a deal worth as much as $2 billion. Electra will begin trading Friday morning on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ETRA.” The content above comes from the network. if any infringement, please contact us to modify.

Electra Therapeutics is the latest biotech to overshoot its own IPO expectations this year, with the inflammation-focused company bringing in $350 million from this morning’s Nasdaq listing. South San Francisco-based Electra had been betting on selling 21.7 million shares priced around $15 apiece. But the biotech revealed Thursday evening that it managed to sell 23.3 million shares. It means the IPO has brought in gross proceeds of $350 million—above the $296.6 million net proceeds that the company had predicted earlier this week. Electra has a chance to boost this windfall by a further $52.5 million if underwriters fully take up their option to buy an additional 3.5 million shares at the same price. The stock is set to list on the Nasdaq Friday morning under the ticker “ETRA.” The IPO funds will be added to the $97.7 million that the biotech was sitting on at the end of June, having raised a $183 million series C back in October 2025. Top of the list of spending priorities is ipsoprubart, which targets signal regulatory proteins (SIRP) to selectively deplete pathological immune cells. The company has already earmarked $220 million to push ipsoprubart through an ongoing phase 2/3 global study in secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH) and on towards an approval application. sHLH is a rare, life-threatening hyperinflammatory syndrome caused by overactivation of the immune system. Cancer, infection, autoimmune disease and immunotherapy can all trigger the syndrome, which requires immediate intervention after arising. Electra CEO Kathy Dong told Fierce last year that the phase 2/3 sHLH trial was expected to complete enrollment in 2027 with topline data to follow shortly after. The trial follows a phase 1b study in malignancy-associated HLH—the syndrome when it is tied to cancer—in which ipsoprubart achieved a 100% overall survival rate at eight weeks among 12 frontline patients. Another $25 million is needed to fund an ongoing phase 1 study of ipsoprubart in patients with natural killer/T cell malignancies, while $50 million is expected to be used to fund an ongoing early-stage study of ELA822 in healthy trial volunteers and to kick off a planned phase 1/2 study of the SIRP-targeting drug in patients with T cell-mediated immune disorders. Electra came online in 2018 with the aim of exploring a new approach to targeting SIRPs, a family of cell surface receptors whose expression is restricted to specific immune cell populations. The biotech employs 46 full-time staffers, although the company referred to plans to increase its headcount in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this week. Electra has joined a growing list of biotechs that have entered the public market to a warm reception this year. The bumper run of IPOs in 2026 has included record-breaking listings from the likes of Parabilis Medicines and Kailera Therapeutics.