Oct 26 (Reuters) - Drug developer MapLight Therapeutics,

backed by controlling shareholder Novo Holdings, is valued at

$704.3 million on Sunday ahead of its Nasdaq debut, as biotech

IPOs show signs of revival following a months-long freeze.

The Redwood City, California-based company priced the

initial public offering at $17 per share. The shares of the

company will begin trading on the Nasdaq on Monday under the

ticker symbol "MPLT".

The company sold 14.75 million shares in the IPO to raise

$250.8 million.

October has been relatively quiet in the IPO market, with

much of the activity coming from deals that were reviewed by the

SEC before the government shutdown.

MapLight's lead experimental drug candidate, ML-007C-MA, is

currently being developed to treat schizophrenia and

hallucinations and delusions caused by Alzheimer's disease.

The company expects data from the schizophrenia trial in the

second half of 2026 and the Alzheimer's trial in the second half

of 2027.

The company was the first to tap the rarely used 20-day IPO

rule after the U.S. government shutdown began earlier in

October, as it sought to navigate the SEC closure to go public.

Besides Novo Holdings, MapLight is backed by nonprofit

Catalyst4, which was founded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

LB Pharmaceuticals ( LBRX ) broke the dry spell with its New

York debut last month - the first sizable biotech IPO since

February, while drug developer Evommune is expected to go public

next month.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management had indicated interest

in buying up to $40 million of MapLight's shares in the

offering.

Separately, funds managed by Wall Street firm Goldman

Sachs ( GS ) were expected to buy 476,707 shares of MapLight in

a concurrent private placement.