City Therapeutics has gone public with an upsized $200 million IPO, adding another RNA-focused name to biotech’s 2026 new-issue window. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company offered 11.1 million shares, above the 9.7 million shares it had previously expected, and priced them at $18 each, the midpoint of its anticipated $17 to $19 range.

The offering is due to bring in $200 million in gross proceeds, with the total potentially rising by around a further $30 million if underwriters fully take up their option to buy an additional 1.7 million shares at the same $18 price. City’s shares are due to start trading on Nasdaq Friday morning under the ticker symbol "CTY."

On the same day, Frazier Life Sciences listed its second biotech-focused shell company. Frazier Life Sciences Acquisition Corp. offered 7.5 million shares at $10 each, giving the SPAC roughly $75 million to deploy in a reverse-merger search for a biotech target.

Where City Plans To Spend The IPO Proceeds

City has already mapped out how it expects to use the new capital across named RNA interference programs. The company earmarked $30 million for CITY-FXI, a Factor XI-targeting RNAi therapeutic, to support an ongoing phase 1 study and move into a mid-stage trial in patients who have undergone knee surgery, where thrombosis is common.

A further $20 million is due to go toward a phase 1 study of CITY-RBP4, a GalNAc-conjugated siRNA therapeutic, and preparations to evaluate it for Stargardt disease and geographic atrophy. City also hopes to spend $40 million on CITY-TFR2, another GalNAc-conjugated asset that is due to enter a trial in China later this year as a potential treatment for anemia. The company said it plans to expand from that starting point into other chronic conditions where anemia is prevalent, including chronic kidney disease and inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease.

The Financing Signal

City was founded in 2024 with backing from RNAi veterans from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, including John Maraganore, Mark Keating and Tracy Zimmermann. It also raised a $99.5 million series B in June and has struck partnerships with Bausch + Lomb and Biogen.

The IPO arrives weeks after ADARx Pharmaceuticals raised $446.3 million in its own public listing, and Fierce Biotech reported that ADARx shares had largely held their value through Thursday’s close. That does not make the RNA market broadly de-risked, but it does suggest investors are still willing to fund platform stories tied to defined clinical spending plans.

Frazier’s SPAC listing sends a narrower message. The blank-check structure was most popular among biotechs back in 2022, and interest has since died down, according to the source. A new $75 million vehicle from a specialist life sciences investor suggests the format has not disappeared, but it now looks more like a targeted tool than a mainstream route to market. Frazier’s first SPAC merged with NewAmsterdam Pharma in 2022, giving investors a prior example of how the firm has used the structure.