Aclaris Therapeutics, a Malvern biotech company that’s developing topical drugs for skin lesions, filed for an $86 million IPO, according to an SEC filing.

The company plans to start the third phase of clinical trials, where it will test the drug on hundreds to thousands of people, in the second half of the year, according to the filing.

Aclaris has raised a total of $31.5 million in venture capital from investors like Vivo Capital, Fidelity Biosciences and Sofinnova Ventures. Sofinnova, based in Silicon Valley, led a Series B for another Philly life sciences company that went public this year: Spark Therapeutics. The two IPOs point to the fact that Philly’s life sciences scene is still strong.

The 10-person company works out of a 9,000-square-foot office in Malvern.

CEO Neal Walker, who founded the company in 2012, was schooled in Philly: He got his MBA from Wharton, his medical degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and his undergraduate degree from Lehigh University.

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