Silverback Therapeutics filed for an initial public offering on Tuesday, seeking additional capital as it develops targeted therapeutics for cancer, viral infections and other diseases, led by an executive team that’s notable on multiple levels.
Three of Silverback’s four named executive officers are women: CEO Laura Shawver; Valerie Odegard, president and chief scientific officer; and Dr. Naomi Hunder, chief medical officer.
In that way, Silverback is building on the momentum of Leen Kawas, the CEO of Athira Pharma, who became the first woman to lead a Washington state company to an IPO in more than two decades when the company went public in September.
In addition, all of Silverback’s top four executives are either new to the company this year, or recently promoted their current roles, including a chief financial officer whose hiring was announced in the hours before the IPO filing.
Founded in 2016, Silverback uses a proprietary technology platform called ImmunoTAC to develop therapies that target specific areas of disease in a way designed to avoid damaging healthy tissue. Its lead product candidate, designated SBT6050, uses monoclonal antibodies to target breast, gastric and lung cancers. It’s currently in Phase 1/1b clinical trials, according to the filing.
The IPO filing doesn’t yet indicate the proceeds expected from the offering. Silverback raised $210 million in venture capital over its lifetime as a private company, including an $85 million round in September, led by EcoR1 Capital; and a $78.5 million round in March, led by U.S. Venture Partners.
Like many early stage biotech companies, Silverback has yet to generate meaningful revenue, posting a net loss of $17.6 million in 2018, a loss of $24 million in 2019, and a loss $19.9 million through the first nine months of this year, according to the IPO filing. The company had $142.3 million in cash and equivalents as of Sept. 30.
Silverback employs 54 people, an increase of 31 employees since January 2019, according to the filing.
Shawver, a veteran biotech executive and entrepreneur, joined the company as CEO in April. She was previously CEO of San Diego-based biotech company Synthorx, leading the company through a $2.5 billion acquisition by Paris-based Sanofi. An ovarian cancer survivor, Shawver is also the founder of the nonprofit Clearity Foundation, supporting other women with the disease.
Dr. Peter Thompson, Silverback’s chairman, co-founder and former CEO, described Shawver at the time as the perfect fit to lead Silverback, citing her “range of strategic expertise, demonstrated success raising capital, scientific acumen, and broad drug development experience” in a news release announcing her appointment in April.
Jonathan Piazza, the company’s new chief financial officer, was previously a Goldman Sachs & Co. managing director, working in the investment bank’s healthcare group. Goldman Sachs is separately listed in the filing as one of four underwriters for the Silverback initial public offering.
Silverback announced Piazza’s appointment as CFO on Tuesday morning, several hours before the IPO filing was made public.
“With his range of strategic finance experience, leadership and management capability, Jonathan is ideally suited to meet the needs of Silverback and all of our stakeholders as we continue to advance our pipeline that marries the curative potential of (immuno-oncology) treatment with the precision of targeted drugs,” Shawver said in the announcement.
We’ve asked a Silverback representative for more information about the executive changes. Due to SEC restrictions, companies often don’t comment publicly during the time between filing their registration statements and making their initial public offering.
Hunder, who was named Silverback’s chief medical officer in September, joined the company in January 2019 as senior vice president of clinical research and development.
Odegard, a former Juno Therapeutics vice president of research, has the longest tenure among the four named executive officers. She joined Silverback Therapeutics in 2016, and was promoted to president in September, according to the filing.
