Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it plans to raise $53 million in an offering of preferred stock and warrants to the market, and a further $70 million following negotiations with certain institutional investors.

The Houston-based immunotherapy developer is planning to sell series 1 preferred stock in the public offering to raise about $53 million. Each preferred stock will be sold together with a seven-year warrant to buy 100 common shares.

The warrants are immediately exercisable. In some instances, a warrant holder will be able to buy one series 1 preferred stock instead of the common shares.

Jefferies and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as the book-running managers for the public offer.

Bellicum also plans to enter an agreement directly with investors to sell series 2 and series 3 preferred stock, and related warrants to buy common shares, for total proceeds of $70 million.

The private placement will have two or more separate closings, each at the option of the investors and subject to conditions, Bellicum said in a news release. The company said it expects the investors to pay an up-front option fee of about $12 million.

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals develops immune therapies for treating blood cancers, solid tumors and orphan inherited blood disorders. Its chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy called BPX-601 previously showed promise in an early-stage study in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

CAR-T therapies involve taking a person's own immune cells and modifying them to fight cancer cells when infused back into the body.