Israeli biotech firm Aposense considering IPO

Israeli news service Globes says it has been informed by sources that the domestic biotechnology company Aposense is considering an initial public offering (IPO) on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). The company held its last financing round in late 2008 at a company value of $100 million, and the IPO will presumably be held a much higher valuation.

In the past, Aposense had considered going public on Wall Street, USA, and is reportedly still thinking about doing this. Aposense's flagship product is a diagnostic kit, but in terms of development, cost and timetable, it more closely resembles a drug development company. The expectations of the company's investors also resemble those of a drug development company, noted Globes. The company's technology is a molecule that attaches to cells undergoing apoptosis (programmed cell death).

Aposense's first sensor targets brain cancer, in order to improve radiation and chemotherapy treatment protocols. Current brain cancer treatments are somewhat of a trial and error affair, with the result that treatments of similar tumors in different patents can results in completely different outcomes, the news service stated.