Precision BioSciences raises $125M in offering

Precision BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: DTIL), a Durham-based clinical stage gene editing company, has raised $125 million in a public offering to further develop its novel proprietary ARCUS platform for in vivo gene editing therapies for high unmet need diseases.

Earlir in November, Precision BioSciences announced the pricing of an underwritten offering of 10,235,077 shares of its common stock at a price of $7.75 per share and, in lieu of common stock to certain investors, pre-funded warrants to purchase up to 5,893,964 shares of its common stock at a price of $7.749995 per pre-funded warrant, which represents the per share offering price for the shares of common stock less the $0.000005 per share exercise price for each pre-funded warrant.

The gross proceeds to Precision from the offering, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $125 million. 

The deal includes participation from new and existing investors, including First Light Asset Management, MPM BioImpact, Bleichroeder LP, Lynx1 Capital Management, Readout Capital, Aberdeen Investments, Driehaus Capital Management, as well as other leading life sciences investors.

Precision intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund the continued research and development of PBGENE-HBV and PBGENE-DMD, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Also earlier this month, Precision BioSciences announced that that the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) has completed its review of safety data from the first patient treated with PBGENE-DMD in the Phase 1/2 FUNCTION-DMD clinical trial for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). No serious adverse events or adverse events of special interest were reported in the first patient through week eight. Following completion of the patient's initial eight-week safety observation period, the DSMB identified no safety concerns and endorsed proceeding with dosing additional patients in Part 1 of the study.