Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Files For IPO
Houston is filled with amazing companies that break the mold time and again. Sometimes, the best news in Houston commercial real estate is also just good business news. After all, if business is good in the city, then commercial real estate will only grow in demand as people try to get a slice of the pie. Most recently, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals broke the mold and became the first Houston biotech in 15 years to go public. It’s just another sign that the Houston economy has not only bounced back since 2008, but it has surged.
Bellicum’s Success Shines the Spotlight on Houston
Bellicum Pharmaceuticals is a “a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel cellular immunotherapies for various forms of cancer, including both hematological and solid tumors, as well as orphan inherited blood disorders.” The company filed for its IPO on November 18 at the amazing price of $115 million prompting the CEO of BioHouston, a non-profit company based in Houston that encourages biomedical advances in the Houston area, to describe it as shining “the spotlight on the Houston biotech industry.”
Young Company with Vast Potential
Bellicum was founded just 10 years ago to develop cancer therapies that essentially help doctors control a patient’s immune system cells via an on-off switch. For example, these cells can be programmed to kill rogue cancer cells which could make Bellicum’s technology a game-changing therapy for leukemia, lymphoma and prostate cancer patients. This concept has helped them produce notable drugs like BPX-201, which is a vaccine that is created with the patient’s own white blood cells that has proven effective at combating prostate cancer.
In 2011, Bellicum was the recipient of a $6.2 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. This grant boosted the opportunities for the pharmaceutical company, and the company’s subsequent success illustrates that grant funding can play a critical role in supporting young biomedical companies.
Whether this company revolutionizes the biomedical industry remains to be seen, but since the company’s inception it has raised an impressive $107 million in capital. That has to be comforting to investors, who have since been flocking to the stock since it was publicly offered. The sky is the limit for this young company, and it will be interesting to see what they are able to accomplish in the next five years through their newly organized institutional investors.
How to Use This Information
The medical field in Houston is just one of the industries that has seen rapid growth in the last five years and there is no end in sight. If you live in the Houston area and you are considering starting a start-up company, you are absolutely going to need office space. If you are looking for commercial real estate in Houston, look no further than Capital Realty Group. We will ensure that your company finds the perfect space that will exemplify your company’s personality. Through our REAL-ized Visions program, we have compiled a diverse list of properties to meet the growing demands of the Houston business sector.
What do you think of this amazing company?
Categorized in: Amazing Spaces, Companies, & Cultures
This post was written by Capital Realty
