Alexza Pharmaceuticals files for $86.25 million IPO

By Ted A. Knutson

Washington, Dec. 22 - Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. filed for an $86.25 million initial public offering in an S-1 registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Piper Jaffray and Pacific Growth Equities LLC are joint book-running managers with participation from RBC Capital Markets and JMP Securities.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based pharmaceutical company is focused on the development and commercialization of novel, proprietary products for the treatment of acute and intermittent conditions.

Alexza's technology, the Staccato system, vaporizes unformulated drug compound to form a condensation aerosol that allows rapid systemic drug delivery through deep lung inhalation. The drug is quickly absorbed through the lungs into the bloodstream, providing speed of therapeutic onset that is comparable to intravenous administration, but with greater ease, patient comfort and convenience.

The company is initially focusing on small molecule drugs that have been in use for many years and are well characterized.

Alexza has one product candidate that has completed a phase 2a clinical trial, AZ-001 (Staccato prochlorperazine) to treat patients suffering from acute migraine headaches.

The company also has two product candidates that have completed a phase 1 clinical trial. Those products include AZ-002 (Staccato alprazolam) for acute treatment of panic attacks associated with panic disorder and AZ-004 (Staccato loxapine) for the treatment of acute agitation in patients with schizophrenia.

Alexza also plans to file an Investigational New Drug Application in the first half of 2006 and begin a phase 1 trial for its AZ-003 (Staccato fentanyl) in development for the treatment of patients with acute pain, including patients with breakthrough cancer pain and postoperative patients with acute pain episodes.

The firm had a net loss of $21.5 million on revenues of $2.0 million for the first nine months of 2005 compared with a loss of $11.3 million on revenues of $1.8 million for the same period in 2004.

Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Versant Ventures are the largest shareholders, each with 12 million shares for 12.8% stakes.

The company is seeking to be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "ALXA."

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