Sanford Hillsberg Quoted in Daily Journal

August 2014

Sanford Hillsberg was quoted in a August 28th article in the Daily Journal about the Jaguar Animal Health’s $70 million initial public offering. San Francisco-based Jaguar’s research is used to develop drugs to treat gastrointestinal disorders in animals. The company’s lead drug candidate targets diarrhea in dogs, but Jaguar also has other products in various stages of development intended to treat cats, horses and cows.

Public equity markets’ broad receptivity to biotechnology company IPOs has allowed a handful of veterinary drug developers to launch initial public offerings over the past year, including Parnell Pharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd., Aratana Therapeutics Inc. and Kindred Biosciences Inc.

Hillsberg, one of TroyGould’s lead attorneys representing Kindred Bioscience in its IPO in November 2013, said investors have taken a keen interest in veterinary drug makers partly because they’re able to bring a wider variety of product candidates to market more quickly.

For veterinary drug makers, Hillsberg said, getting drugs though the Food and Drug Administration’s approval process “is much more abbreviated in terms of the amount of work you have to do and the time you spend with the FDA on regulation.”

“It makes it feasible for these smaller companies going public to have a diversified pipeline, which is great because it diversifies the risk. That makes it easier for these companies to go public and raise money,” he added.