ADARx Prices $446.3 Million IPO At $17, As City Therapeutics Files For Nasdaq

ADARx Pharmaceuticals raised $446.3 million in an upsized Nasdaq IPO, exceeding the company’s earlier plans and adding one of the larger biotech public financings of 2026. The San Diego-based RNA biotech priced 26.25 million shares at $17 each, with underwriters holding an option to buy another 3.9 million shares within 30 days, which could add $66.9 million in gross proceeds if fully exercised.

The offering came in above ADARx’s earlier expectations. Fierce Biotech reported that the company had previously expected to sell 21.9 million shares priced between $15 and $17, while BioSpace described a previously expected $318.6 million target at an estimated $16 per share. Either way, the final deal landed above the company’s own prior figures, suggesting stronger demand than management initially put into its filing range.

At the same time, City Therapeutics filed for its own public debut, extending a recent run of biotech IPO activity. City did not disclose how much it plans to raise, but the filing adds another RNA-focused company to a market window that has recently also drawn filings from Iambic Therapeutics, TRex Bio and Retension Pharmaceuticals, according to BioSpace.

The financing signal

For ADARx, the capital raise is not just a balance-sheet event. It is a test of whether public investors will still fund broad, internally built platform stories rather than only single-asset companies with near-term binary catalysts. Chief Financial Officer Ryan Fisk told Fierce that investors were drawn to the company’s “broad pipeline,” which he described as five clinical or advanced preclinical candidates that are all internally generated and wholly owned. He also pointed to a cadence of data milestones in 2027, 2028 and beyond.

AbbVie added another layer to the financing by committing $100 million in a concurrent private placement that will leave the pharma with about 4.9% of ADARx’s outstanding shares after the IPO closes. The companies already had a relationship through a licensing deal struck last year that included $335 million upfront to find new treatments across neuroscience, immunology and oncology, according to BioSpace.

The structure matters because it combines public market demand with strategic backing. That does not remove development risk, but it does mean ADARx is entering the public markets with both fresh cash and an existing large-pharma partner already willing to deepen its exposure.

Where the money goes

ADARx said the proceeds will primarily support its siRNA pipeline. The first spending priority is agazisiran, a complement factor B-targeting siRNA therapy now in phase 2 studies across several complement-mediated diseases. Fierce listed those programs as including IgA nephropathy, complement 3 glomerulopathy, immune complex membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration. Depending on how those mid-stage studies perform, the company may also use proceeds to start phase 3 studies in the same indications.

The company will also use IPO proceeds to continue phase 3 development of onvuzosiran, a prekallikrein-targeted siRNA medicine for hereditary angioedema, and to support pre-commercial activities around that program. BioSpace said topline data from that study are expected by the end of next year.

A third clinical-stage asset, the factor XI-targeted ADX-626, is in a phase 1 study in healthy participants. Fierce reported that ADARx wants to fund that trial, a phase 2 study in secondary stroke prevention and an exploratory trial for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. Remaining proceeds are expected to move ADX-077, an adipose-targeted obesity program, and ADX-199, focused on Alzheimer’s disease, into the clinic next year.

The broader market read

BioSpace called ADARx’s deal the third largest biotech IPO of 2026, behind Kailera Therapeutics at $625 million and Parabilis Medicines at $670 million. It also described ADARx as the 27th industry IPO of the year after Electra Therapeutics’ upsized $350 million offering last week.

That ranking matters because it points to selectivity rather than a full reopening. Investors appear willing to back companies that can present either a broad pipeline with multiple shots on goal or enough strategic support to reduce financing risk after the IPO. ADARx fits both conditions. City’s filing suggests other issuers see that opening too, but the absence of a target raise shows that filing is still easier than pricing.

City enters that process with sizable private backing already in place. Founded in 2023 by former Alnylam leader John Maraganore, the company raised a $135 million series A in the fall of 2024 and another $99.5 million in series B financing this summer, according to BioSpace. The IPO proceeds are intended to support CITY-FXI, which is in a phase 1 trial for thrombosis, along with other assets and the company’s RNA platform.

The market signal from both companies is that RNA remains a financeable theme when investors can see either depth of pipeline, experienced leadership, strategic validation or all three at once.