Amicus Therapeutics prices IPO, raising up to $86M

Cranbury, N.J.-based Amicus Therapeutics priced its IPO shares at $15, right in the middle of its expected $14 to $16 range, an offering that could raise up to $86.3 million in gross proceeds if it sells all 5.75 million shares available. Here is the company’s release.

The company’s focus lies in developing “molecular chaperones” designed to help badly folded proteins achieve their true shape — thereby either restoring their function in genetic disease or potentially reducing disease effects in other conditions. Its leading candidates aim to reactivate crucial enzymes disabled by misfolding in rare genetic conditions such as Gaucher disease and Fabry disease, but the technique — if it works — could hold promise in neurological and heart conditions as well. I wrote about their technology and its potentially disruptive commercial and medical prospects here.

Amicus shares opened this morning up $1 at $16, although they’ve since edged down. They trade under the cutesy ticker symbol FOLD.