Sepracor going public

Executive Summary

Marlborough, Mass.-based startup files for a 3.25 mil. share offering July 16. The proposed maximum offering price is $ 9 per share. The company estimates that it will net over $ 19 mil. Sepracor specializes in separating and purifying chiral compounds. Its Optipure formulation of Upjohn's Ansaid (flurbiprofen) is in Phase I as a toothpaste to prevent bone loss caused by gum disease. A similar formulation of Wyeth-Ayerst's Orudis (ketoprofen) is expected to enter clinicals in August, the company said. An optically-pure atenolol (ICI's Tenormin) began Phase I trials in May. In its preliminary prospectus for the offering, the company lists terfenadine (Marion Merrell Dow's Seldane), fluoxetine (Lilly's Prozac), and albuterol (Schering-Plough's Proventil and Glaxo's Ventolin) as preclinical candidates. The company's largest single investor is American Cyanamid, which owns 14.6%, although two Rhone-Poulenc affiliates, Imedex and Sunfox, own a combined 15.7%.