Bambusa grosses $168.9m in upsized Nasdaq IPO as Aspen prices low and Corxel picks a SPAC

Two US biotechs priced Nasdaq initial public offerings on 30 October 2026, with Bambusa Therapeutics grossing $168.9 million and Aspen Neuroscience about $140.6 million, while obesity developer Corxel Pharma said it would list by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company¹². Bambusa trades under BBTX and Aspen under ASPE¹.

How the deals priced

Both companies had filed to sell 9.4 million shares at $15 to $17, a range that would have grossed $150.4 million each at the midpoint². The two outcomes then diverged. Bambusa lifted the number of shares on offer to 11.3 million and cleared its original target¹². Aspen sold 9.375 million shares at $15, the bottom of its range, and came in below the size it had sought¹².

Bambusa, based in Boston, will spend the money on BBT001, a bispecific antibody against IL-4Rα and IL-31 for inflammatory skin disease¹. BBT001 is in a phase 2a trial in China for chronic spontaneous urticaria and a phase 1 study in atopic dermatitis, and Fierce Biotech reported that the company is moving it towards a phase 2b trial¹². A second candidate, BBT002, targets IL-4Rα and IL-5 and is in early trials in COPD, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps and asthma¹. The pipeline came from Biotheus, the Chinese developer BioNTech bought for $800 million in 2024, and many of Bambusa's leaders and staff previously worked together at BioNTech².

Aspen, based in San Diego, is developing sasineprocel, a one-time autologous cell therapy made from a patient's own skin cells that is meant to replace lost dopamine-producing neurons in Parkinson's disease¹². It had dosed 15 patients in the phase 1/2a ASPIRO study as of 18 August, holds FDA fast-track and RMAT designations, and has outlined plans to put $110 million into a phase 3 trial¹². Chief executive Damien McDevitt told Fierce Biotech: "Because of the data that we're seeing already, we're moving into phase three."²

Corxel's route is different. The company plans to merge with Amanat Acquisition Corp in a transaction expected to bring in roughly $375 million once it completes next year, made up of about $75 million from Amanat's recent IPO and $300 million from a PIPE financing¹. The money is for late-stage registration trials of CX11, a once-daily oral GLP-1 agonist for obesity and type 2 diabetes now in phase 2 in the US, with a higher-strength version in phase 1b¹.

What it means for the market

For investors, the two IPOs show buyers being selective rather than shut. The same $150.4 million target produced an upsized deal for an inflammation bispecific aimed at the same pathway as Sanofi and Regeneron's Dupixent, which made €5.7 billion in third-quarter sales, and a trimmed one for a cell therapy in neurodegeneration¹². Bambusa also listed with assets that originated in China and a team drawn largely from BioNTech².

Corxel's choice of a SPAC is notable because that route has fallen out of favour since its peak in the early 2020s, although pharmaphorum noted it can be quicker and cheaper, with less scrutiny of a company's finances before listing¹. Its $300 million PIPE indicates continued private appetite for oral obesity drugs¹. The pipeline of listings is still moving: NuvOx Therapeutics amended its filing on the same day and still aims to sell 2.86 million shares at $6 to $8².

Caveats

The sources differ on where Bambusa priced within its range, with pharmaphorum placing it at the bottom and Fierce Biotech at the midpoint¹². All three companies' lead programmes are clinical-stage, and Corxel's merger has yet to close. Aspen expects to begin its phase 3 trial in the second half of 2027¹.