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Cancer biotech Sensei Biotherapeutics files for a $100 million IPO

January 15, 2021
SNSE

Sensei Biotherapeutics, a Phase 2 biotech developing bacteriophage-based therapies for cancer, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.

Sensei's proprietary ImmunoPhage platform is designed to utilize bacteriophage to induce an innate and adaptive immune response. The company's lead candidate, SNS-301, is currently in an ongoing 30-patient Phase 1/2 trial in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Topline data is expected by the end of 2021, and if the results are positive, subject to feedback from the FDA, the company intends to initiate a randomized, registration-enabling trial.

The Rockville, MD-based company was founded in 1999 and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol SNSE. Sensei Biotherapeutics filed confidentially on November 12, 2020. Citi, Piper Sandler and Berenberg are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.