Glaxo-Backed Lyell Immunopharma Wobbles in Trading Debut

(Bloomberg) -- Lyell Immunopharma Inc., a cancer drug developer backed by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Celgene Corp., seesawed in its trading debut after raising $425 million in an initial public offering.

The shares opened up 10% from the $17 IPO price and then fell as much as 12% Thursday in New York trading. They closed down 0.7% to $16.89, giving the company a market value of about $4.1 billion. Lyell sold 25 million shares Wednesday after marketing them for $16 to $18.

The California company, based in South San Francisco, was founded in 2018 by Rick Klausner, former director of the National Cancer Institute and the co-founder of Juno Therapeutics Inc., according to Lyell’s filings. Lyell describes itself as “a T cell reprogramming company dedicated to the mastery of T cells to cure patients with solid tumors.”

For More: Star-Studded Lyell Debut to Test the Biotech Waters

Lyell, doesn’t have any products on the market, said it expects to incur substantial losses for the foreseeable future. It had a net loss of $204 million on revenue of $7.8 million last year, according to its filing.

The offering was led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley. The shares are trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol LYEL.

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