Pharmasset files for $75 million IPO

New York, May 8 - Pharmasset, Inc. registered to sell up to $75 million of common stock in an initial public offering.

Banc of America Securities LLC and UBS Investment Bank are bookrunners with JMP Securities as co-manager, according to an S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company has applied to list its stock on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "VRUS."

Pharmasset is a Princeton, N.J., clinical-stage pharmaceutical company working on novel drugs to treat viral infections.

Its primary focus is developing oral therapeutics to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus using compounds known as nucleoside analogs, which inhibit the natural enzymes required for viral replication.

At present the company has three products: clevudine for hepatitis B, which is expected to enter phase 3 clinical trials in the fourth quarter of 2006, racivir, for HIV, which is in a phase 2 clinical trial, and R-4048, a pro-drug of PSI-6130 for the treatment of hepatitis C, expected to enter an initial clinical trial in the first quarter of 2007.

For the three months to Dec. 31, 2005, Pharmasset reported a net loss of $.09 million on revenue of $833,000.

MPM Capital is currently the largest stockholder with 24.4% of the equity, followed by founder and former chairman Raymond F. Schinazi with 18.9%, TVM Capital with 10.8%, Burrill & Co. at 9.8% and MDS Capital with 7.2%.

Proceeds from the IPO will be used for clinical development programs.

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