Pfizer-backed Agomab Therapeutics reveals wider loss in US IPO filing

Jan 16 (Reuters) – Agomab Therapeutics revealed a wider loss in its filing for a U.S. initial public offering on Friday, as the pre‑revenue Belgian drug developer pressed ahead with its plan to tap a buoyant market for new listings.

The IPO market is expected to strengthen further in 2026 as hopes of interest rate cuts bolster investor appetite for new issues, encouraging late-stage drug developers to test public markets.

Pfizer invested in Agomab as part of the company’s Series B financing round, making it one of the biotech’s significant shareholders ahead of its IPO.

The company has raised about 300 million euros ($347.91 million) from a host of venture capital and other firms, including Andera Partners, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Canaan, Cormorant Asset Management and Dawn Biopharma since its founding in 2017.

The Antwerp‑based company posted a net loss of 45.1 million euros for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2025, compared with a loss of 34.5 million euros a year earlier, as it ramped up spending on clinical trials for experimental therapies.

Agomab has no approved products and generates no revenue, with research and development expenses rising to 35 million euros in the latest nine‑month period from 28.6 million euros a year earlier.

Its pipeline includes ontunisertib (AGMB‑129), an oral, gut‑restricted ALK5 inhibitor being developed for fibrostenosing Crohn’s disease, a severe form of Crohn’s characterized by inflammation‑driven strictures that often lead to surgery.

Clinical-stage dermatology company Veradermics and Eikon Therapeutics also filed for a U.S. IPO earlier in the month.

J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Leerink Partners and Van Lanschot Kempen are underwriters for the offering.

The company will list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “AGMB.”

($1 = 0.8623 euros)

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas and Pragyan Kalita in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)