In a long-delayed move, a Baltimore biotech that makes the only stem cell product on the market submitted plans yesterday to go public.
Osiris Therapeutics Inc., which uses stem cells from the bone marrow of adult volunteers to create tissue-regeneration treatments, will soon sell up to $80 million in shares in an initial public offering, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company, whose Fells Point offices sit on the edge of the harbor, plans to use the money to pay off a loan as well as for research and development, including costly clinical trials of three drugs. How well the shares perform is likely to be watched by many within the industry, analysts said.
Stem cells have been under intense scrutiny as the public and politicians debate the pitfalls and promises of the science.
Stem cells taken from human embryos in particular have drawn controversy, dividing groups on issues of morality and science. Those concerns have led the federal government to significantly restrict its funding of embryonic stem cell research and pitted religious organizations against scientific ones.
And while adult stem cells - such as the ones Osiris uses - and those taken from umbilical cord blood are no more controversial than an organ transplant, many people don't understand the difference with embryonic stem cells and have lumped them into the same debate.
"Just the fact that [Osiris is] involved in stem cells - I could imagine it affecting investors, who just don't want to get involved," said C. Robert Eaton, president of MdBio Inc., a private nonprofit seeking to further biotechnology in Maryland.
The few public stem cell companies have had a difficult time on the stock market this year. Shares of Aastrom Biosciences, a Michigan company working with adult stem cells, are down about 36 percent. Cryo-Cell International of Florida and ViaCell Inc. of Massachusetts, both of which work with umbilical cord stem cells, are down as well: Cryo-Cell by 22 percent this year and ViaCell by about 9 percent.
Part of the problem is that most stem-cell companies, whether they work with adult or embryonic cells, are years away from bringing a product to market. That leaves little for investors to measure when analyzing a business, said John T. McCamant, editor of the Medical Technology Stock Letter in Berkeley, Calif.
