Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that it has launched the proposed initial public offering of its common stock.

Akcea is offering 9,620,000 shares of common stock and the underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,443,000 shares of common stock. The initial public offering price is currently expected to be between $12.00 and $14.00 per share. Akcea has applied to list the shares on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "AKCA."

Cowen, Stifel and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint book running managers for the offering. BMO Capital Markets is acting as lead manager for the offering.

ABOUT AKCEA THERAPEUTICS

Akcea Therapeutics is a late-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing drugs to treat patients with serious cardiometabolic diseases caused by lipid disorders. Akcea is advancing a mature pipeline of four novel drugs with the potential to treat multiple diseases, including volanesorsen, AKCEA-APO(a)-LRx, AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx and AKCEA-APOCIII-LRx, which are all based on antisense technology developed by Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The most advanced drug in its pipeline, volanesorsen, has successfully completed a Phase 3 clinical program for the treatment of familial chylomicronemia syndrome, or FCS, and is currently in Phase 3 clinical development for the treatment of familial partial lipodystrophy, or FPL. Akcea is assembling the infrastructure to commercialize its drugs globally with a focus on lipid specialists as the primary call point. Akcea is a subsidiary of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.