Aktis Oncology is aiming to bring in $182 million—or more—from what looks set to be the first biotech IPO of 2026.
The company, which has accrued an impressive list of Big Pharma backers in its previous funding rounds, last month revealed its intention to go public in the near future. Now, the biotech has pegged some numbers onto that ambition.
Aktis’ plan is to sell 11.8 million shares priced between $16 and $18 apiece, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Should the final share price fall in the middle of this range, the biotech expects to bring in $181.7 million in net proceeds from the IPO.
The haul would rise to $209.6 million if underwriters fully take up their 30-day option to buy an additional 1.7 million shares at the same price, the company estimated.
The company has earmarked between $140 million and $150 million of proceeds to fund the ongoing U.S. phase 1b study of the miniprotein radiopharmaceutical Ac-AKY-1189 for Nectin-4 expressing tumors. Preliminary results from the dose-escalation portion of the study are expected to read out in the first quarter of 2027.
Aktis has previously pointed out that Pfizer and Astellas' Padcev, an antibody-drug conjugate that also targets Nectin-4, brought in worldwide sales of $1.9 billion in 2024. Aktis has argued that Padcev has had “limited” impact beyond urothelial cancer due to the need to develop a companion diagnostic.
The biotech is hoping to carve out its own niche for Ac-AKY-1189 by using imaging radioisotopes conjugated to the drug to select patients most likely to benefit from the treatment.
Meanwhile, another $70 million to $80 million of IPO proceeds is expected to fund the launch a phase 1b study of its second asset, Ac-AKY-2519, for B7-H3 expressing tumors.
Aktis oversaw 76 full-time employees as of September 2025, who are based across a site in Boston and another in Durham, North Carolina. The company, which ended September with $246.2 million still in the bank, expects the IPO proceeds will help keep the company financed until the first half of 2028.
The biotech saw the likes of Bristol Myers Squibb and Merck & Co.’s MRL Ventures Fund join previous backer Eli Lilly for a $175 million series B last year. The pharma attention was based on Aktis’ platform for delivering alpha emitters to cancer cells using miniproteins, an approach that could potentially destroy tumors without causing intolerable harm to healthy tissues.
Following schizophrenia-focused MapLight Therapeutics' $250 million Nasdaq IPO in October and inflammation-focused Evommune's NYSE debut in November, Aktis’ ambition to go public is another sign that industry observers’ predictions to Fierce that the IPO window could reopen in 2026 may come true.