Aegerion Pharma lowers sights, aims for $80.5M IPO

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, a Bridgewater, N.J., specialty pharmaceuticals company focused on cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, said it hopes to raise up to $80.5 million in an initial offering, down slightly from its earlier plan to raise as much as $86.5 million. The company plans to offer five million shares, plus a possible overallotment of an additional 750,000 shares, at a per-share price of $12 to $14.

The company is testing inhibitors designed to limit the production of cholesterol and triglycerides in the liver and intestines, which could make them possible treatments for high cholesterol in the estimated 1.5 million Americans who cannot tolerate the popular cholesterol-lowering drugs known collectively as statins. Aegerion’s lead product candidate, AEGR-733, should enter late-stage human testing in the second half of this year.

Like other specialty pharmaceutical companies, Aegerion doesn’t discover its own drugs, and instead licenses or acquires cast-offs from other companies. Its S-1 filing with the SEC is here.