Castle Biosciences, based in Friendswood, has filed for a $58 million Initial Public Offering (IPO). The company is a commercial-stage dermatological company that uses genomes to provide physicians and their patients with more accurate treatment decisions.
The company’s main product is a multi-gene expression profile test that predicts the risk of metastasis or recurrence for patients diagnosed with invasive cutaneous melanoma, a deadly skin cancer.
The company was founded in 2007 by CEO Derek Maetzold. He has held leadership roles in a number of pharmaceutical companies. He has also contributed to the discovery and development of five diagnostic tests in cancers.
Before the offering, Mr Maetzold owns 18% of the shares of the company while four other venture firms own almost 50% of the company.
The Chief Medical Officer is Federico Monzon, MD. He previously served as the Director of Pathology at the Cancer Genetics Laboratory of the Baylor College of Medicine in the Texas Medical Center.
The CFO is Frank Stokes who joined the company in December 2017 from Hammock Pharmaceuticals in Charlotte, NC. Previously he had worked for SVB Leerink, an investment bank that specializes in healthcare.
In 2018, the company had revenues of $23 million and an operating loss of $3.8 million. This was after incurring Research and Development costs of $4.9 million.
The company intends to use $17 million of the proceeds of the IPO to expand its sales force. It also plans to spend the same amount on R&D, with the remainder used for working capital needs.
The company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol CSTL. No pricing terms were disclosed.
SVB Leerink and Baird are the joint bookrunners on the deal.
The company joins dozens of biotech companies that have recently filed for IPOs. However, if the company goes public, it will be only the third Houston-based company to do so this year. The first was Soliton, a tattoo removal business, in February. The second was Tilman Fertitta’s blank check company in May