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Noubar Afeyan is co-founder of Moderna and its president.
Graham Hughes/Bloomberg
A co-founder of a vaccine manufacturer
Modern
recently bought more biotechnology stocks
Evelo Biosciences
.
Affiliates of Flagship Pioneering, an investment vehicle led by Noubar Afeyan, co-founder of Moderna (ticker: MRNA) and its chairman, paid $12.5 million on July 11 for 5.4 million Evelo shares (ticker: EVLO), priced at $2.31. each. Flagship now has aggregate ownership of 6.5 million Evelo shares, according to a form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The purchase was made through a private placement with Evelo, in which the company sells the shares and receives the proceeds. With open market transactions, the company that issued the shares does not receive any proceeds from the transactions.
Flagship led the purchase of Evelo’s private placement, which totaled 11,025,334 shares at a price of $2.31 each. Evelo said he would receive approximately $25.5 million in gross proceeds from the sale and use them to fund the ongoing Phase 2a trial of EDP2939 in moderate psoriasis, to repay approximately $5 million. debt and for general corporate purposes.
Afeyan and Flagship did not comment on Evelo’s stock purchase.
Evelo Biosciences is developing a new platform of anti-inflammatory drugs administered orally and acting on the axis of the small intestine. Evelo says its drugs have the potential to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer. As of March 31, prior to the private placement, it had total cash and cash equivalents of $27.5 million, sufficient to fund expected operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through third trimester.
Evelo’s initial public offering took place in May 2018 and the share price was $16 each, or $320 after adjusting for a 20-to-1 reverse split that was effective June 30, 2023. The company used a reverse split to remain compliant with the $1 minimum bid price requirement per share to maintain listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Prior to this year, Evelo stock had peaked, hitting a record adjusted intraday high of $398.56 in January 2021; that year, Evelo had Covid-19 therapies in trial. Since then, the shares have fallen as the candidates have failed. The stock ended Monday at $3.61, down about 99% from the IPO price, and down 89% for the year so far.
Flagship remains Evelo’s largest shareholder – prior to the placement, its stake in Evelo was 45% – and Afeyan is Flagship’s CEO, director and sole shareholder.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron column that covers the stock trading of corporate executives and board members – the so-called insiders – as well as major shareholders, politicians and other high profile figures. Because of their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades to the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.