Syndax IPO Reboot May Help The Fight Against Cancer Tumors

Syndax (SNDX) tried to go public back in June of 2014 with a different management team and less compelling story. Instead they took in capital from crossover investors, did a minor pivot and brought in a new management team to lead the company forward.

The proposed terms in 2014 were 4.3M shares at a $14 mid-point which would have resulted in a market capitalization of $171M. Syndax is back in the market now with a new underwriting team led by Morgan Stanley and Citibank. Now the proposed terms of 4.4M shares at a $15 mid-point with a market capitalization of $270M. (The increase is due to the much larger share count – about 18M versus the 12.2M back in 2014.) Members may wish to view the current IPO roadshow, the current roadshow transcript or the old roadshow slides.

Institutional investors may want to have conversations with JMP because they are the only co-manager on both the original and new prospectus, they may have the best insights on how the story and the team has evolved in the last year.

The story is pretty good. The lead compound, Entinostat (ENT), has demonstrated that it dramatically increases anti-tumor immune response when combined with existing mainstream treatments that are anti-PD-1/CTLA-4 drugs from companies like Merck and Genentech. (The fact that both have partnered with Syndax underscores the validity of the clinical results and mechanism of action.)

Simply put the goal is to enhance the ability of the Cytotoxic T-cell to recognize and kill tumor cells. Many existing therapies focus on blocking the CTLA-4 and PD-1 mechanisms that can prevent the T-cell from recognizing the tumor cells. However two other mechanisms also inhibit T-cell ineffectiveness. Entinostat reduces the inhibitors which directly improves their ability to detect and kill tumor cells.

There are several sets of data and graphs in the IPO presentation but this one is the most clear and compelling. It also illustrates the synergistic nature of ENT when combined with anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 drugs. This graph is the reason Merck and Genentech have partnered with Syndax. Entinostat has a good safety profile and desirable characteristics that would allow oral, once-a-week dosing.