Upcoming Tocagen IPO To Finance Gene Therapy Clinical Trials

The biotech firm Tocagen Inc. plans an Initial Public Offering to finance ongoing clinical trials of a technique that uses a weaponized virus to help the body’s immune system battle a common and deadly type of brain cancer.

San Diego-based Tocagen has applied for a listing on the Nasdaq with the stock symbol TOCA. In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it hopes to raise more than $86 million as part of promising results that have extended the life expectancies of patients.

What Tocagen Does Different

The technique uses a cancer-selective virus called Toca 511 that selectively infects and spreads through the brain tumor, delivering a gene called cytosine deaminase into the DNA of cancer cells. Patients take cycles of oral tablet called Toca FC, which converts the gene into an anti-cancer drug inside the infected cells.

"Given the high unmet need for patients with brain cancer, we are particularly encouraged that all patients with an objective response from our Phase 1 trial remain alive," Harry Gruber, MD, president, research and development at Tocagen, said in a news release.

Brain Cancer And High-Grade Glioma

Brain cancer is one of the most difficult to treat. Tocagen has won the FDA’s “breakthrough therapy designation” as it advances into the second phase of clinical trials, which involves treating people with recurrent brain cancer known as high-grade glioma.

Tocagen estimates 160,000 new diagnoses of high-grade glioma this year, with about 14,000 in the United States.

“Receiving Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the FDA for recurrent (high-grade glioma), the first time it has been granted for this type of brain cancer, highlights the urgent need for new treatment options for this deadly disease,” said Marty Duvall, CEO of Tocagen. “Based on the encouraging safety and efficacy data we have seen to date, advancing the development of Toca 511 & Toca FC continues to be our team’s top priority.”

Gene therapy the transplantation of normal genes into cells in place of missing or defective ones in order to correct genetic disorders.

The IPO is being underwritten by Leerink Partners LLC, Evercore Group L.L.C. and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

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