--Stock priced below range
--Company awaiting regulatory approval for products
(Updates with closing stock price data.)
By Lynn Cowan
Early-stage pharmaceutical developer Durata Therapeutics Inc.
(DRTX) made minor trading gains Thursday, its first day as a public
company.
The company's stock closed at $9.04 a share on the Nasdaq,
essentially flat with its initial public offering price of $9.
Durata sold 7 million shares--up from its original plans for 6.25
million shares--below its expected range of $11 to $13.
Durata, which was formed in 2009, is developing drugs for
infectious diseases and acute illnesses. The company has no
products approved for sale by regulators; its most advanced drug
candidate, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials, is a once-a-week
intravenous antibiotic to treat acute bacterial skin infections.
The company acquired the rights to the drug, called Dalbavancin,
when it acquired Vicuron Pharmaceuticals from Pfizer Inc. (PFE) in
December 2009.
The company has never been profitable and doesn't expect to
generate product revenues before 2014 at the earliest.
Durata is the second early-stage drug developer to go public in
the last two months; the first, biopharmaceutical company Tesaro
Inc. (TSRO), priced within its expected range and traded slightly
higher during its debut in June.
-Write to Lynn Cowan at lynn.cowan@dowjones.com