Alzheon might actually do this

Alzheon is a small company that believes a once-failed treatment for Alzheimer's disease can be refashioned into a winner with a few tweaks and a lot of money. That idea has found little quarter, forcing Alzheon to abandon its hopes of pulling off an $85 million IPO back in the spring.

But then the company re-emerged in August with a chastened pitch to raise $41 million in an IPO. And now it has set terms for that IPO, expecting to price at between $13 and $15 a share.

The company is widely perceived to be a long shot — when we asked readers about its odds of IPO success, more than 80 percent predicted failure — but its latest filing suggests it has found some sympathetic ears on Wall Street. And Alzheon needs them: In the first six months of 2018, Alzheon spent $5.6 million, leaving it with just $3.1 million in cash at the end of June. At its current burn rate, the company will need money to simply survive the year.