Good reception for Receptos

Faheem Hasnain, chief executive of La Jolla-based Receptos, with other company members in the lab.

For a young biotech company looking to woo investors, it helps to have promising products. Having experienced management helps even more. Receptos, a developer of drugs for autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, has both.

That combination helps explain why shares of the La Jolla company have skyrocketed since it held its initial public offering last May at $14 per share. Even in a surging biotech stock market, the performance of Receptos stands out.

Receptos closed Tuesday at $46.39, up $1.97, or 4.4 percent, boosting the companys market value above $1 billion. Those who bought at the IPO price have tripled their investment to date. (During the same time, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index rose about 56 percent.)

Moreover, Receptos held a secondary offering in January. It raised $102 million, compared to $73 million from its IPO.

Receptos has good use for the additional money, says its chief executive, Faheem Hasnain. In December, the company released positive results in a mid-stage trial of its drug RPC1063 for multiple sclerosis, a progressively debilitating disease of the central nervous system. The results take much of the risk out of the drug, Hasnain said, so Receptos is eager to take it into Phase 3 trials.

Hasnain, 55, who joined Receptos in November, knows not only how to raise money, but how to impress biotech investors. As chief executive of Facet Biotech, he helped ink the $450 million cash deal between the Redwood City company and purchaser Abbott Laboratories in March 2010.

When I heard about Receptos when it was private, and I heard Faheem was the CEO, I said, Im on board, right away, said Liana Moussatos, an analyst at Wedbush Pacgrow Lifesciences, which co-managed the IPO.

I knew him from Facet and developing daclizumab, which is an injectable treatment for multiple sclerosis, Moussatos said. He knows multiple sclerosis inside and out. He is in the top tier of CEOs, and he has a top-tier management team.

Hasnain was recruited by Receptos board chairman Bill Rastetter, a legendary biotech veteran and investor. Rastetter led San Diego-based Idec Pharmaceuticals, a predecessor to Biogen Idec, which developed the blockbuster Rituxan, the first monoclonal antibody drug for cancer, which also found applications in autoimmune diseases.

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Good reception for Receptos