Apnimed CEO Kevin Lind<\/p>\n
Apnimed<\/p>\n
Even before it gets approval for its sleep apnea pill, Apnimed is testing investor appetite.<\/p>\n
The Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech priced its shares at $16 to raise $192 million in an upsized IPO that would value the company at more than $600 million. The company\u2019s stock is set to begin trading on Friday on Nasdaq.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a one-size, fits-all disease, treated with a one-size, fits-all machine,\u201d CEO Kevin Lind, 50, tells Forbes. \u201cThere is a better way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lind took over as CEO from cofounder Larry Miller, a pulmonary doctor and serial entrepreneur who had postponed his own retirement to launch the company, in June. Lind, the company\u2019s former board chairman, had previously cofounded Longboard Pharmaceuticals, which developed an epilepsy drug and was acquired by Denmark\u2019s Lundbeck for $2.6 billion in 2024. Miller, 73, remains on the board as vice chairman.<\/p>\n
Forbes profiled the company<\/a> and its efforts to develop a drug for sleep apnea, a condition that affects as many as 80 million people in the U.S. alone, earlier this year.<\/p>\n Researchers have been trying without success for decades to develop a drug that could fix sleep apnea, a common condition in which breathing pauses during sleep, sometimes lowering oxygen levels to a dangerous degree. Today, the primary treatment for the disease is a continuous positive airway pressure machine, known as a CPAP, which forces air down the wearer\u2019s throat to keep it open. The device works, but no surprise, it\u2019s hated by most everyone who has to use it. Many people with sleep apnea refuse to try it or won\u2019t even get diagnosed for fear they may have to.<\/p>\n Lind says that only 23 million people \u2013 a minority of those with the disease \u2013 have been officially diagnosed, and of those 10.5 million remain untreated. \u201cThis gives us a tremendous opportunity to grow the market,\u201d he says. \u201cThe easiest place for us to start is with the 10.5 million who are diagnosed and have chosen not to be treated.\u201d<\/p>\n Research shows that people with untreated sleep apnea are more likely to develop heart trouble, strokes and perhaps even Parkinson\u2019s and Alzheimer\u2019s. A treatment that\u2019s easier for patients to bear could have a transformative impact on their overall health.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why when Harvard researcher Dr. Luigi Taranto Monetemurro, now Apnimed\u2019s chief scientific officer, was testing a potential apnea medication back in November 2016, he was shocked to discover it was helping his subject breathe normally. Apnimed launched in 2017 after acquiring rights to that potential therapy. <\/p>\n The company raised some $260 million from investors that include Morningside Group, Alpha Wave Global and Sectoral Asset Management at a valuation of around $400 million. Its early believers stand to make a bundle on the IPO. <\/p>\n \u201cThe easiest place for us to start is with the 10.5 million who are diagnosed and have chosen not to be treated.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Apnimed CEO Kevin Lind<\/p>\n Until recently, sleep medicine had been something of a backwater, but that may be changing. At the end of 2024, the FDA approved Eli Lilly\u2019s weight-loss drug Zepbound for the treatment of moderate-to-severe sleep apnea in adults who are obese. Unlike Apnimed\u2019s pill, Zepbound does not treat sleep apnea directly, but works indirectly because people who are overweight are more likely to suffer from it. \u201cPeople tend to believe that OSA [sleep apnea] is associated with obesity, but over 60% of the patients with it are not obese,\u201d Lind says.<\/p>\n Last year, Apnimed reported a $58 million net loss from continuing operations on revenue of just $38 million, according to its prospectus.<\/a> In March, the company sold its 50% stake in a joint venture with Japanese biotech Shionogi related to another potential sleep apnea therapy to that firm for $100 million upfront,<\/a> plus a $50 million milestone payment, and royalties, in order to focus on its own pill. <\/p>\n The big question now is the commercial trajectory for Apnimed\u2019s first sleep apnea drug, a once-nightly pill. The company submitted the medication to the FDA for approval and could receive the okay in the first quarter of 2027. Lind says Apnimed has not yet set the price for the pill, but has begun preparations for its commercial launch. Even if a small percentage of people with sleep apnea were to take its pill, the drug would likely become a blockbuster. \u201cThe numbers are staggering,\u201d<\/a> Miller told Forbes last winter.<\/p>\n MORE FROM FORBES<\/p>\n ForbesA ‘Holy Grail’ Sleep Apnea Pill Could Be On The Market Next YearBy Amy Feldman<\/a>ForbesHow OpenAI Plans To Win Over Doctors, Patients And HospitalsBy Amy Feldman and Rashi Shrivastava<\/a>ForbesPeptides May Soon Be Legal. These Companies Are Ready To Cash InBy Amy Feldman<\/a>ForbesWhy Pfizer And Eli Lilly Are Betting On This $1.3 Billion AI Drug Discovery StartupBy Amy Feldman<\/a>ForbesThe Startup Using AI To Make Hearing Aids BetterBy Amy Feldman and Alex Knapp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apnimed CEO Kevin Lind Apnimed Even before it gets approval for its sleep apnea pill, Apnimed is testing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[256977,256976,256633,114,256975,6844,85,46,256974,18285,256973],"class_list":["post-567978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apmd","tag-ad109","tag-biotech-ipos","tag-business","tag-dr-larry-miller","tag-drug-development","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-kevin-lind","tag-sleep-apnea","tag-sleep-apnea-pill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}