** Cancer drug developer Aktis Oncology's AKTS.O shares jump as much as 62% in their Nasdaq debut
** Stock opened for trading at $27 apiece vs $18 IPO price, valuing the firm at $1.42 billion
** AKTS late Thursday sold 17.65 million shares in an upsized offering at the top end of its marketed range of $16 and $18 apiece to raise $317.7 million
** Co-founded in August 2020, AKTS is developing treatments for a broad range of solid tumors
** Its lead candidate, AKY-1189, is in an early-stage study to treat certain solid tumors, including a form of advanced bladder cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer
** "By going public now, Aktis is positioning itself as the next potential acquisition target in the rapidly growing radiopharmaceutical sector and can therefore justify a premium" - IPOX research associate Lukas Muehlbauer
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)
((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))
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