On Wednesday, UK-based biopharmaceutical company Amryt Pharma, which develops innovative treatments for rare diseases, made its U.S. debut on the Nasdaq, trading as AMYT.
This isn't the company's first foray into the stock market, but CEO Joe Wiley says the expansion to the U.S. should help the company grow its business further.
"We are already listed in London, so we are now dual-listed in both the U.S. and the UK," Wiley said. "We also hope to enhance our value of our equity on both sides of the Atlantic through this dual-listing. Thirdly, we believe this enhances our credibility as a biotech company and our access to deal globally as we continue our strategy to acquire, develop, and commercialize."
One other factor contributing to Amryt Pharma's decision to go public in U.S. markets was due to where the company's shareholders are located. Roughly 70 percent of the company's shareholders are already located in North America and the company hopes to expand its reach there.
"We believe that this IPO will increase the awareness of Amryt in the U.S. by increasing our Amyrt coverage." Wiley then added, "We believe that we can access a deeper pool of capital and healthcare investors in the U.S. This will ultimately drive liquidity in our shares, which is what our goal is."
Although not in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, by focusing on rare and orphan diseases, the company believes its future is bright. As an example, Wiley pointed to his company's study of epidermolysis bullosa, a group of rare and genetic disorders of the skin, as one reason investors should remain interested.
"Analysts who cover this area believe that north of a $1 billion market opportunity...We actually did the world's largest-ever study in EB...we will read our data from that in late Q3 or early Q4 this year."
