Lycia Therapeutics went public with an upsized $317.5 million IPO on Friday, while immunology-focused Windward Bio has also seen which way the public markets are blowing.
South San Francisco-based Lycia offered 17.6 million shares as part of its Friday listing—above the 14.7 million shares that the company had previously expected. At $18 apiece, the shares also came in at the top end of the anticipated range.
That means Lycia raised $317.5 million in gross proceeds from the IPO, well above the roughly $250 million it had initially targeted. The haul could rise by another $47.6 million if underwriters fully exercise their 30-day option to buy an additional 2.6 million shares at the same price.
Lycia’s stock began trading under the ticker symbol “LYCA,” ending its first day up nearly 67% at $30 per share.
The company explained last week that it needs around $80 million to take its lead asset, LCA-0061, through a phase 2 study. LCA-0061 is a catalytic lysosomal targeting chimera (cataLYTAC) degrader designed to deplete immunoglobulin E (IgE) to treat food allergies and other allergic diseases.
A further $70 million is due to be set aside to take a “fast follower” cataLYTAC degrader called LCA-0062 into its own phase 2 study for food allergies. The hope is that LCA-0062 will offer “additional flexibility in dosing and duration of response” compared with its predecessor, LCA-0061.
In a filing last week, Lycia noted that IgE blockers like Novartis and Genentech’s Xolair have benefited patients with food allergies, but suggested these therapies “remain constrained by weight-based and often cumbersome dosing schedules, as well as limitations in patients with high circulating IgE levels.”
Xolair and its ilk only inhibit IgE, rather than removing it entirely, Lycia pointed out in the filing. In contrast, LCA-0061 is “designed with an aim to eliminate total and free IgE by targeting extracellular IgE for lysosomal degradation.”
Preliminary data from an ongoing phase 1 trial of LCA-0061 have backed up this theory, according to Lycia, demonstrating “rapid, deep and sustained reduction in total and free IgE, with no safety signals or dose-limiting toxicities observed.”
Beyond food allergies, Lycia said it needs $90 million for a midstage study of LCA-0321, a LYTAC degrader for Graves’ disease. The therapy is designed to selectively degrade TRAbs, the pathogenic drivers of Graves’ disease.
Lycia’s workforce of 31 full-time employees is headed up by CEO Aetna Wun Trombley, Ph.D., a former chief operating officer of liver disease-focused NGM Biopharmaceuticals.
Having launched with $50 million in 2020 before raising a $70 million series B in 2021, a $106.6 million series C in 2024 and a $75 million fundraise in June, the company entered the second half of this year with $148.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.
Windward breezes toward IPO
As Lycia leaped onto the Nasdaq, Windward disclosed that it’s mulling a similar move. The Swiss biotech has yet to set out exactly how many shares it expects to offer or at what price, but explained in its filing that its top spending priority will be WIN378.
Windward acquired the rights to the anti-human thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) monoclonal antibody from Kelun-Biotech and Harbour BioMed in a $970 million biobucks deal last year. Since then, the biotech has taken the candidate into a phase 2 trial in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and a phase 2/3 trial in asthma. Cash is also needed for another phase 3 asthma trial that’s expected to begin enrolling patients in the first half of 2027.
Meanwhile, more money is required to fund a planned phase 2b study of WIN027 in COPD, as well as take that drug into a global midstage trial for atopic dermatitis. Windward also acquired that asset from China last year, penning a $700 million deal with Qyuns Therapeutics for the IgG1 bispecific monoclonal antibody that targets both human thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) and human interleukin-13 (IL-13).
Some of the IPO cash is also due to be set aside to advance the company’s preclinical bispecific programs. These are headed up by a next-gen bispecific targeting both type 2 (T2) and non-T2 inflammatory pathways.
The Basel-based biotech is headed up by CEO Luca Santarelli, M.D., who previously ran VectivBio and Therachon. VectivBio was bought by Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, while Therachon was acquired by Pfizer.
Windward hasn’t had any problems bringing in funds in the past, having secured a $200 million series A in 2025 backed by the likes of Novo Holdings. The company followed that up with a $165 million series B earlier this year and still had $207.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at the end of June.
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