Eikon tries to follow Aktis

The oncology market, and biopharma overall, appears to be gradually rebounding, with biotech-specific stock indices up year-on-year in 202; now investors will be hoping that the IPO window is opening again, with two companies moving towards the public markets in the first two weeks of the year.

Aktis Oncology was the first to test the waters, raising $318m in its IPO, and delivering a confident debut as shares jumped 24% on Friday, their first day of trading. Attention is now shifting to Eikon Therapeutics, a much larger player that has just announced plans to go public.

Radioconjugates first

Aktis, which is focused on radioconjugates, had raised $141m in total private funding, while Eikon Therapeutics, which is led by former Merck & Co executive Roger Perlmutter, has attracted $804m in private investment since 2021. The latter hasn't disclosed in its prospectus how much it hopes to raise in its IPO, but presumably this could outstrip the amount pulled in by Aktis, which currently has a market cap of $1.2bn. 

Aktis spent $41m on R&D in 2024 and reported $246m in cash prior to the IPO. According to its prospectus, around $150m of the proceeds will be used to advance its lead programme, AKY1189, a Nectin-4-targeting radioconjugate in clinical development. A further $80m will be directed to fund AKY2519, a B7-H3-targeted programme expected to enter the clinic soon.

Broader & later

This is dwarfed by Eikon, which spent a huge $207m and $205m on R&D in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and has a much broader pipeline.

Eikon’s lead asset, EIK1001, a TLR7/8 agonist, is already in a phase 3 trial in combination with Keytruda as a first-line treatment for melanoma. That pivotal study is expected to reach primary completion in 2030, and a portion of the company’s proceeds is expected to be directed to advance the programme, although the group isn't saying exactly how much.

Beyond EIK1001, the company plans to allocate capital to its three additional clinical assets, including two PARP1 inhibitors, EIK1003 and the brain-penetrant EIK1004, as well as the WRN inhibitor EIK1005. Eikon also intends to support EIK1006, an androgen receptor antagonist in preclinical development, for which an IND filing is planned in early 2027.

Last year only a handful of biotech companies managed to float in the US, with Ascentage Pharma one oncology player to go public – and that group was already listed in Hong Kong. Other private groups will now likely be watching to see how Aktis and Eikon fare on the public markets.

Aktis & Eikon selected pipelines

Source: OncologyPipeline.