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Seizure-treating Xcel Pharmaceuticals files for IPO
WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Xcel Pharmaceuticals Inc., which markets the drugs Diastat and Mysoline, which are used to treat seizures associated with epilepsy, announced plans on Monday for a $98 million initial public offering of common stock.
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The San Diego, California-based company plans to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including product acquisitions and working capital, it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The preliminary prospectus did not disclose how many shares were being sold to the public, nor did it provide a price range. That information is expected to come in later filings.
Elan Corp Plc (NYSE:ELN - news), the Irish pharmaceutical company which owns Diastat and Mysoline, or one of its affiliates, plans to buy an undisclosed number of shares at the IPO price, the filing said.
Xcel has applied for a Nasdaq listing under the symbol ``XCEL'' (Nasdaq:XCEL - news) and has hired Salomon Smith Barney, Merrill Lynch, ABN Amro and Thomas Weisel Partners to manage the offering.
Xcel is focused on the large and rapidly growing neurology market, where U.S. sales of drug products totaled $4.8 billion in 2000 and grew at an annual average rate of 25 percent from 1997 to 2000, the company said in the filing.
Xcel was founded in January 2001 and began selling Diastat and Mysoline a few months later.
Diastat is the only drug approved in the United States for the acute treatment of seizures outside of a hospital setting and was launched by Elan in October 1997.
Mysoline has been used since the early 1950s for the chronic treatment of epilepsy-associated seizures. It was acquired by Elan in February 1998, Xcel added.
Xcel recorded net sales of $5.6 million and a net loss of $7.5 million from its inception through the end of September 2001. |
