Aspen IPO: Altman-backed, Parkinson’s-focused biotech debuts on the Nasdaq

Early trading in shares of biotech Aspen Neuroscience is underway on Freedom’s client trading platform. The company, whose early investors included OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is developing a treatment for Parkinson’s disease by turning human skin cells into dopamine-producing neurons. Aspen shares will debut during the Nasdaq regular session later on Friday under the ticker symbol ASPE.

Aspen Neuroscience raised $140.6 million in its Nasdaq IPO, selling 9.37 million shares at $15 apiece, the bottom of its previously announced price range. Leerink Partners, Piper Sandler, Stifel, UBS, and Oppenheimer underwrote the offering. They received a 30-day option to purchase up to 1.4 million additional shares.

Most of the proceeds will fund further clinical trials of Aspen’s Parkinson’s treatment, according to its prospectus. The therapy is currently in early-stage phase I/II-a testing, and the biotech plans to begin phase III before the earlier trial is completed.

Aspen was founded in 2018 by stem cell scientists Jeanne F. Loring and Andres Bratt-Leal, along with nonprofit Summit for Stem Cell, which supports people with Parkinson’s disease.

Aspen’s business is built on technology developed in Loring’s laboratory to reprogram ordinary human skin cells into stem cells capable of becoming different cell types, as though they have “forgotten” what they once were. In the laboratory, they are then “taught” to become precursor cells that, after transplantation into the brain, mature into dopamine-producing neurons. The motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are linked specifically to damage to and death of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain.

For now, the company is applying this approach to people with Parkinson’s disease through a treatment called sasineprocel. However, it believes the approach could also be used to develop treatments for other neurodegenerative diseases.

Since its founding, Aspen has raised around $347 million, including from venture capital investors like OrbiMed, ARCH Venture Partners, Frazier Life Sciences, and Medical Excellence Capital, as well as Kite, a pioneer in cancer cell therapy, according to the prospectus.

Cell therapies have already shown powerful effects in treating certain cancers, and Aspen could become the first publicly traded company built around a cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease, BioPharma Dive writes. However, these treatments are complex, expensive, and difficult to manufacture.

The biotech has incurred operating losses since its founding, including $38.2 million in the first half of 2026, and warns in its prospectus that losses will continue for the foreseeable future. The net loss for the same period was $36.5 million.

Aspen’s management expects cash, including the IPO proceeds, to last into the second half of 2028. However, it warns that the business will still need additional capital to complete development. The company is currently focused primarily on developing sasineprocel, and a failure would hurt Aspen’s business and prospects, according to the prospectus.

Freedom uses a probability-of-survival approach to calculate its target price, notes analyst Alem Bektemirov. He says Aspen’s treatment is currently in phase I/II clinical trials, with a 55% risk of failure, which will decline with each subsequent phase, increasing the company’s value. Factoring in all risks, Freedom values Aspen at $659 million, or $22.60 per share, implying 50.7% upside from the IPO price.

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Freedom clients can trade Aspen shares before the start of the main U.S. session. Premarket trading will open 2-3 hours early, at 15:30-16:30 Astana time. To start trading, select the symbol ASPE on the Freedom trading platform.