AC Immune files for U.S. IPO to develop Alzheimer's drug

(Reuters) - Swiss biotech firm AC Immune SA filed with U.S. regulators on Tuesday to raise up to $50 million in an initial public offering of common stock. AC Immune, backed by German billionaire Dietmar Hopp, said it plans to use proceeds from the IPO to develop products, including Alzheimer's drug crenezumab. Crenezumab, which AC Immune licensed to Roche Holding AG's Genentech division in 2006, targets protein plaques found in brains of patients with Alzheimer's. The company told the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus that Credit Suisse, Jefferies and Leerink Partners were underwriting the IPO. (http://1.usa.gov/25xy2wv) The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price. The company intends to list its common stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol "ACIU." The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different. (Reporting by Richa Naidu)