Tranzyme Goes Public, Aldagen Holds

One day after Research Triangle Park-based Tranzyme Pharma launched an initial public offering of stock, neighboring Aldagen decided to withdraw its plans for a similar move.

Tranzyme, which is developing drugs for gastrointestinal motility disordersand other unmet medical needs, started with the help of a $150,000 Biotechnology Center loan in 2003.

After arranging more than $250 million in partnership agreements from drug giants Bristol-Myers Squibb and Europe’s Norgine B.V., Tranzyme decided to proceed with its IPO at $4 a share, raising its target of $52 million.

But one day after Tranzyme hit the street by lowering its intended asking price $7 a share, Durham clinical-stage biotechnology company Aldagen withdrew its planned IPO, citing unfavorable market conditions.

This marks the second time Aldagen has decided not to jump into the public fray in its quest to raise more than $80 million. It filed for the most recent IPO in the fall of 2009 after cancelling a previously planned IPO a year earlier.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has helped Aldagen’s research effort by supporting a two-year postdoctoral fellowship, from 2008 to 2010, as part of the Center’s first group of Industrial Fellowship Program participants.