Protara Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical player based in Flatiron, completed its financial maneuver, closing on a public offering to the tune of $100 million — funding that's earmarked to push the envelope on cancer treatment, specifically advancing the clinical trials of their bladder cancer drug TARA-002
As detailed by a press release on GlobeNewswire, Protara—known for their work on therapies for the treatment of cancer and rare diseases—will utilize these proceeds to underpin the ongoing phase 2 clinical trials of TARA-002 and it’s not just clinical development that's on the books; some dough could also inflate general corporate coffers and working capital according to the plan.
A lofty $93.4 million to $107.5 million is expected to line the company’s pockets post-expenses, as per a Crain's New York Business report, the offering has the distinction of being Protara's largest capital raise to date despite factors in underwriting costs or other sundry charges.
Hedge fund hotshots and investment icons including Boxer Capital, RA Capital Management, Acorn Bioventures and others backed the earlier $45 million private placement earlier this year the portfolio expansion appears to mirror the company's ambitions with this latest cash infusion falling into step with Protara's strategic blueprint to bolster its bio-medical breakthroughs, protara laid out its fiscal strategy committing the capital to not only the trials for their hopeful cancer blaster but also to other ongoing clinical programs and the nitty-gritty of day-to-day operations.
Steering the offering, a team of finance firms donned the role of joint bookrunners—TD Cowen, Cantor, LifeSci Capital, Oppenheimer & Co., and Scotiabank—and with a pot sweetened by the potential exercise of additional stocks and pre-funded warrants, the groundwork for fiduciary success was set, details of which are outlined in documents retrievable from sighs like TD Securities and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.
