Aldagen, which employs 18, hopes to raise as much as $80.5 million through an initial public offering of stock.

The number of shares the company plans to sell and the price per share have yet to be determined -- that information will have to be filed with the SEC before the deal can happen.

If successful, Aldagen would be the first Triangle biotech company to go public since Chapel Hill-based Icagen did in February 2005.

An IPO would allow Aldagen to raise additional money for drug research, and give its private investors a chance to cash in their stakes.

Aldagen was founded in 2000 as StemCo Biomedical based on technology developed at Duke University. Its investors include Intersouth Partners of Durham and the Aurora Funds of Research Triangle Park.

Aldagen is developing treatments based on adult stem cells and is currently testing four promising products in humans. The company's most advanced product would improve cord blood transplants used to treat metabolic diseases in pediatric patients.