aibioDisc Medicine raises $450 million at $75 a share after phase 3 win
Tickers IRON
The upsized offering funds a planned bitopertin launch. Disc says cash plus proceeds lasts into 2030 and had an estimated $682.8 million before the deal.
Key facts
- Company
- Disc Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRON)
- News type
- Financings
- Primary source
- Disc Medicine (SEC Form 8-K exhibit)
Disc Medicine priced an upsized public offering on Oct. 20, selling 6,000,000 shares at $75.00 each for gross proceeds of $450 million. Underwriters have a 30-day option to buy up to 900,000 more shares. The offering was expected to close on Oct. 22.
The deal grew from the $350 million of stock and pre-funded warrants Disc proposed a day earlier, the same day it reported positive phase 3 results for bitopertin in erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP).
The details
Net proceeds are expected to be about $422.4 million, or about $485.9 million if the underwriters buy the extra shares. Jefferies, Leerink Partners, Morgan Stanley and Cantor were the underwriters' representatives. The shares were sold under an automatic shelf registration Disc filed in August 2024.
Disc said it will use the money, together with existing cash, for research and clinical development, to support the potential commercialization of bitopertin in EPP and XLP, for pre-commercialization work on other candidates, and for general purposes.
In the same 8-K, Disc gave a preliminary, unaudited estimate of $682.8 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at Sept. 30, 2026. It said that cash plus the net proceeds should fund current plans and debt service into 2030, without counting any income from bitopertin or another marketed product.
At June 30, Disc had 38,345,666 shares outstanding, so the 6.0 million new shares equal about 16% of that count.
Context
Disc is a clinical-stage company with no approved products. It reported $717.7 million of cash at June 30 and had guided to a runway into 2029 before the raise. The company also has a Hercules Capital loan facility that it amended in June, drawing an additional $30.0 million to bring the amount drawn to $60.0 million of up to $200.0 million available in tranches.
Quarterly spending has been rising as the company prepares for a launch. Second-quarter net loss was $59.5 million, from $55.2 million a year earlier, with selling, general and administrative costs of $18.1 million as headcount grew.
The phase 3 results that preceded the raise showed bitopertin cutting PPIX by 41.4% versus placebo and adding 12.2 hours a month of pain-free time in light. The FDA had rejected an earlier application in February, and Disc plans to resubmit by year-end.
What it means for investors
Raising right after good data is the usual playbook, and the size matters. With $682.8 million in September and about $422 million more, Disc can pay for a launch and its other programs without going back to the market for several years. Management's 2030 runway also assumes no revenue from bitopertin.
The cost is dilution of roughly 16% of the June share count, and buyers at $75 are paying for a drug that is not yet approved. The FDA must still accept the resubmission and decide by mid-2027. A second complete response, or a label narrower than expected, would test the valuation that the $75 price implies.
What to watch
The underwriters' option on 900,000 shares runs 30 days from the Oct. 20 agreement. Disc plans to resubmit its NDA by the end of 2026, with an FDA decision expected by mid-2027.