The IPO Buzz: Actuate Therapeutics (ACTU) Pops in NASDAQ Debut

Shares of small-cap cancer biotech Actuate Therapeutics (ACTU) shot up 23.5 percent to open at $9.88 at 10:45 a.m. EDT today – Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024 – in their NASDAQ trading debut. Volume was 8,894 shares on that opening trade, according to NASDAQ records. By 11:26 a.m. EDT, Actuate Therapeutics’ stock had given up its gains to trade flat at $8.00 – its IPO price – and then slid to $7.50 at 11:28 a.m. EDT. Actuate Therapeutics priced its IPO at $8.00 – the low end of its $8.00-to-$10.00 price range – and trimmed its IPO at pricing to 2.8 million shares – down from 2.95 million shares in the prospectus – to raise $22.4 million on Monday night, Aug. 12, 2024. Titan Partners was the sole book-runner. Newbridge Securities was the co-manager. Actuate Therapeutics, based in Fort Worth, Texas, is evaluating its lead drug candidate, elraglusib, as a weekly IV infusion – in combination with the chemotherapy GnP – to treat patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) in a Phase II clinical trial, according to the prospectus. Results are expected in the first quarter of 2025. Elraglusib is an ATP competitive small molecule designed to enter cancer cells and block the function of the enzyme GSK-3-beta, which is involved in tumor cell survival, growth, migration and invasion, according to the prospectus. Actuate Therapeutics exclusively licensed a portfolio of GSK-3 inhibitors developed in a collaboration between the University of Illinois-Chicago and Northwestern University. Like most biotechs when they go public, Actuate Therapeutics had no revenue and a sizable net loss. For the 12 months that ended March 31, 2024, Actuate Therapeutics reported a net loss of $27.7 million on zero revenue, according to the prospectus.   (For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.) Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions. Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.