Quark Pharma IPO delayed

Quark Pharmaceuticals, the biotech chameleon I profiled here, delayed an IPO that the company expects to raise as much as $81 million, VentureWire reports (subscription required). The newswire said the Fremont, Calif., developer of RNA-interference drugs was slated to begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market today.

It’s hard to know what a postponement like this means, although I can’t help wondering if picky investors who have already turned up their noses at a number of biotech offerings this year are having second thoughts about Quark, which remade itself as an RNAi company on biotech’s cutting edge by acquiring two drug candidates and then renamed itself earlier this month. We’ll see when and if they make it out the IPO gate; watch to see if they come close to their predicted $12 to $14 per-share offering price.