MAP Pharma charts course for $86M IPO

MAP Pharmaceuticals, a Mountain View, Calif., developer of reformulated drugs for inhalation, filed to raise up to $86 million in an initial public offering. The company’s registration statement with the SEC is here.

MAP is the latest drugmaker to brave the IPO waters, which have been markedly unfriendly for pharmas and biotechs in recent months. The much-anticipated Jazz Pharmaceuticals IPO, for instance, was marked down twice, and even then the company’s shares traded down following the offering. Others, such as Aegerion Pharmaceuticals and Perlegen Biosciences, have simply withdrawn their planned IPOs.

MAP is focused on new versions of old drugs for asthma and migraine headaches. Its lead candidate is a form of budesonide, which is already marketed as an asthma drug delivered via nasal inhaler.