$115 Million Stock Offering by California State-backed Biotech Firm, Forty Seven, Inc.

A California company backed by the state's stem cell agency has announced that it is planning a $115 million initial public offering.

The firm -- Forty Seven, Inc., of Menlo Park -- filed a notice of its plans with the Security and Exchange Commission last Friday. The company has been awarded $15.2 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the stem cell agency is formally known.

The company was founded by renown stem cell researcher Irving Weissman of Stanford University, who serves on the Forty Seven board of directors and who has a 9.5 percent equity interest in the firm.

John Carroll of Endpoint News this morning wrote:

"Forty Seven has an interesting past. The 78-year-old Weissman was able to wrangle substantial support for his early research work on CD47 from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, even launching early human studies — a rare feat in academic circles. Weissman and former CIRM chief Alan Trounson enjoyed a tight relationship, which extended to Trounson’s appointment to the board of another startup that Weissman had helped found — StemCells, Inc. —shortly after his departure from the agency. And Forty Seven is still getting money from CIRM under its latest $19 million grant."

The company said in its SEC filing,

"We are eligible to receive up to $19.2 million in grants from CIRM and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, or LLS, of which $11.6 million has been received through March 31, 2018."

Weissman has received  more than $34 million from the agency, part of the $360 million going to Stanford projects from CIRM, whose 29-member governing board has included a member from Stanford since 2004. Stanford ranks as the No. 1 recipient of funds from the $3 billion California stem cell agency, which is slated to run out of cash for new awards by the end of next year. 

For more on Forty Seven, see here and here.