Raising Life Sciences Capital: An Alternative Way

By Todd Wyche, Brinson Patrick

There are various strategies public life sciences companies use to raise equity capital. Common approaches are conventional financing vehicles such as marketed follow-on offerings, registered directs, and private investments in public equities (PIPEs). These methods require selling shares in large quantities at a fixed price at one specific time.

However, a financial strategy that has become more popular for these companies over the past few years is an at-the-market (ATM) financing vehicle. An ATM offering involves selling newly issued shares to the existing market at market prices via a broker-dealer over an extended period of time. It allows a company to maintain control of its capital raising activity while minimizing cost and share dilution.