Stoke Therapeutics Files for $86 Million IPO

Stoke Therapeutics filed for its IPO that could be worth up to $86 million. The Bedford, MA-based company is developing therapies to treat severe genetic diseases  by, “precisely protein expression.” The filing did not include the number of shares expected to be offered. Stoke intends to trade on NASDAQ under the symbol, “STOK.”

Stoke was founded by Professors Adrian Krainer, Ph.D., and Isabel Aznarez, Ph.D., with the  goal of targeting pre-mRNA splicing to develop precision medicines to treat the underlying cause of genetic diseases. While many companies are developing therapies that downregulate protein expression, Stoke's scientists found a way to upregulate protein expression in diseases caused by haploinsufficiency.

Their lead candidate is intended to treat Dravet Syndrome. They believe their approach can be applied to a broad array of severe genetic diseases, including genetic conditions affecting the central nervous system (CNS), eye, liver and kidney.