By Donald Zuhn —

On March 23, 2007, Simcere Pharmaceuticals filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock.  According to a MarketWatch report, the Chinese generic drug maker is seeking to raise $120 million in the IPO.  Simcere’s shares will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SCR."  On Thursday, Forbes.com reported that Simcere would be offering 15.6 million American Depositary Shares at an estimated price range of between $12.50 to $14.50 per share.  According to a Centient Biotech Investor report, Simcere posted a net profit of $22 million in 2006.

Simcere Pharma promotes itself as the leading manufacturer and supplier of branded generic pharmaceuticals in China.  Its product portfolio currently includes 35 drugs for the treatment of cancer, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, infections, arthritis, diarrhea, allergies, respiratory conditions, and urinary conditions.  Simcere plans to spend almost half of the expected IPO proceeds to fund its research and development efforts.

On March 29, 2007, NovaCardia Inc. announced that it filed a registration statement with the SEC for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock.  According to a StreetInsider.com report, the San Diego-based company is seeking to raise $86.3 million in the IPO.  NovaCardia’s shares will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "NCAR."

NovaCardia is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs to treat major cardiovascular diseases.  NovaCardia has two compounds in clinical development: KW-3902, a selective adenosine A1 receptor antagonist for use in treating congestive heart failure, and K-201 (JTV-519), a compound NovaCardia licenses from Aetas Pharma Co. and which is used to treat atrial fibrillation.

On March 30, 2007, Quark Biotech Inc. filed a registration statement with the SEC for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock.  According to a MarketWatch report, while neither the number of shares in the offering nor the offering price have been determined, the pharmaceutical company is seeking to raise $86.25 in the IPO.  Quark’s shares will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "QURK."  Forbes.com has reported that Quark posted losses of $7.5 million in 2005 and $17 million in 2006.

Quark Biotech, based in Freemont, California, focuses on the development of synthetic short-interfering RNA therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and fibrotic diseases.  Among Quark’s products are siRNA-based therapeutics for the treatment of neovascular (wet) Age-related Macular Degeneration (RTP801i-14, which inhibits expression of the hypoxia-inducible gene RTP801), acute renal failure  (AKIi-5, which temporarily inhibits expression of human p53), acute hearing loss (AHLi-11, which temporarily inhibits expression of human p53), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (CTi-1, which inhibits RTP801).  The company’s patent portfolio includes thirteen U.S. patents and at least nine U.S. patent application publications.

For additional information about the rash of recent biotech and pharmaceutical IPO’s, please see:

• "Aegerion Pharmaceuticals and Merrion Pharmaceuticals File for IPO’s" – April 4, 2007

• "NimbleGen Files for IPO" – March 20, 2007

• "Biotech IPO’s Down?" – March 1, 2007