Immunology and inflammation biotech Alumis has demonstrated its lead drug candidate can hit a certain validated target to treat plaque psoriasis. Now the company has $250 million for pivotal tests that could show whether this small molecule keeps up with a competitive field that includes pharmaceutical giants going after this same target.
Alumis joined the public markets Friday after pricing its offering of about 13.12 million shares at $16 each, raising $210 million. In preliminary IPO terms set earlier this week, South San Francisco-based Alumis projected offering more than 17.6 million shares in the range of $16 to $18 each, which would have raised $300 million at the pricing midpoint. Alumis is making up some of that by selling 2.5 million shares at the IPO price to one of its largest investors. This concurrent private placement brings Alumis an additional $40 million. Shares of Alumis now trade on the Nasdaq under the stock symbol “ALMS.”
Alumis is developing drugs that address TYK2, an enzyme that plays a role in signaling pathways involved in inflammation. In 2022, Bristol Myers Squibb’s Sotyktu became the first FDA-approved TYK2 inhibitor with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis as its first indication. Now other companies are trying to show that they can also drug this target, but in ways that offer advantages in safety, efficacy, or both. Takeda Pharmaceutical has reached late-stage testing with its TYK2-blocking drug candidate. In the IPO filing, Alumis contends the BMS and Takeda TYK2 inhibitors have not shown the ability to achieve complete inhibition of the target enzyme, limiting their therapeutic potential. In clinical testing of the Takeda drug, skin rashes were observed in higher doses. By contrast, Alumis describes ESK-001 as a next-generation TYK2 inhibitor.
“We believe that ESK-001 may potentially overcome the limitations of first-generation allosteric TYK2 inhibitors by achieving maximal target inhibition without causing dose limiting safety or tolerability issues,” Alumis said in the IPO filing. “We believe this will result from optimized physicochemical properties, favorable and highly predictable [pharmacokinetics]and lack of significant drug interactions.”
There are other companies developing next-generation TYK2 inhibitors, though some have dropped out due to uncompetitive data. Alumis expects to begin two Phase 3 tests of ESK-001 in plaque psoriasis in the second half of this year. The drug is also in mid-stage testing in systemic lupus erythematosus. Alumis said in the IPO filing it expects to report results from this study in 2026.
ESK-001 was acquired from FronThera. Alumis said that with learnings from this lead program, it developed a second program, A-005. While this drug is also a TYK2 inhibitor, its ability to penetrate into the central nervous system offers the potential to address neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. A Phase 1 test of A-005 in healthy volunteers began in April. Alumis expects to report preliminary results by the end of this year.
Alumis formed in 2021 and was incubated by Foresite Labs, the startup incubator of venture capital firm Foresite Capital. The company was initially named Esker Therapeutics. When the startup closed its $200 million Series B financing in 2022, it also announced the name change.
“Our name, Alumis, captures our mission to enlighten immunology, and is inspired by the words ‘allumer’ — French for illuminate — and ‘immunis’ — Latin for the immune system,” the company said in the IPO fling.
Prior to the IPO, Alumis had raised $459.1 million in equity financing. Its most recent financing was a $259 million Series C round in March. Foresite Capital is Alumis’s largest shareholder, followed by AyurMaya Capital Management, according to the prospectus. AyurMaya is the investor buying shares in the private placement. As of the end of March, Alumis reported a cash position of $133.7 million. Together with the new capital, the company plans to spend $345 million to bring lead program ESK-001 through a topline data readout in its Phase 3 plaque psoriasis and through the completion of Phase 2b testing in lupus. Another $5 million is earmarked for Phase 1 testing of A-005.
Photo: Getty Images
