As we near the end of second quarter of 2024, the initial public offerings among biotechs have slowed, but the market is still going strong.
At the end of 2023, PwC predicted a “gradual uptick” in IPOs, with the market expected to favor those companies with “strong clinical data.” Roel van den Akker, pharmaceutical and life sciences deals leader at PwC, said that current market activity aligns with the firm’s predictions.
“I do think that we’ve seen somewhat of an uptick in public offerings going into January, February, March. It’s definitely picked up,” van den Akker said. “We’ve seen some pretty critical ones in the first and second quarter of FY24, which we didn’t really see in FY23 and FY22.”
Lorenzo Paoletti, head of biotech investment banking at Truist Securities, agreed that the first half of 2024 is looking good compared with late 2023. Through May 10, his firm calculated that the biotech sector has seen $23 billion of issuance—including IPOs, secondary offerings, convertible debt, PIPEs and registered directs—compared with $15 billion in the second half of 2023.
A month-to-month look at the year so far reveals a downward trend, however, with $7 billion generated from IPOs in January, $9 billion in February, $4 billion in March and $2 billion in April.
As of May 29, 11 companies have launched IPOs this year. Five of those companies—Alto Neuroscience, ArriVent Biopharma, CG Oncology, Kyverna Therapeutics and Metagenomi—entered the market in January alone. The most recent, Rapport Therapeutics and Telix Pharma, each filed on May 17.
Van den Akker said it is hard to predict the future of the public market “given the geopolitical backdrop that we’re facing in the United States and abroad,” but this year so far has given the firm reasons to be optimistic about its continued strong performance.
Paoletti told BioSpace that we’re in a volatile time right now, largely due to the high interest rates. He added that he expects we’ll see a pause in IPOs as we get close to November’s presidential election, as investors will want to know the outcome before making bets on future returns. “As a banker, I would certainly recommend my clients to not launch an IPO close to elections,” he said, adding that some companies now waiting to go public may pull the trigger right after the election or in Q1 2025.
Here are this year’s IPOs so far:
1. CG Oncology
Date: Jan. 26-29
Value: $380 million
CG Oncology announced it was going public in January. The company initially anticipated $180 million in gross proceeds but later announced an upsized IPO. Its late-stage product cretostimogene grenadenorepvec infiltrates and kills cancer cells and is undergoing Phase III trials for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
Date: Feb. 8-11 Value: $366.9 million
Kyverna initially aimed for $182 million, pulled in $319 million on the first day of sales and closed at nearly $370 million. The company focuses on cell therapies for autoimmune diseases such as progressive multiple sclerosis. It published results of first use of its product KYV-101 at the end of March.
Date: Jan. 26-29 Value: $175 million
ArriVent initially anticipated netting between $135.7 million and $156.7 million with its IPO, but ended up upsizing to $175 million. The company, which is developing drugs for non-small cell lung cancer, said the IPO will help fund development but it expects to need to raise “substantial additional capital” in the future.
Date: Feb. 2-6 Value: $147.9 million
Alto, a precision medicine company focused on psychiatric drug development, predicted closing with $128.6 million but ended with $147.9 million in gross proceeds. Alto recently saw positive results in a Phase I trial for ALTO-101, a PDE4 inhibitor for patients experiencing cognitive impairment with schizophrenia.
Date: April 5-9 Value: $110 million
Contineum, originally called Pipeline, aimed to raise between $140.8 million and $158.4 million, but reduced the number of shares it expected to sell, dropping proceeds to about $110 million. Contineum, focused on treatments for neurologic, inflammatory and immune diseases, is developing two clinical-phase candidates: PIPE-307 for relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis and PIPE-791 for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Date: March 28-April 2 Value: $100 million
Boundless Bio went public in March, pulling in goal proceeds of $100 million. The company intends to use the funding for development of its extrachromosomal DNA programs for cancer, including products BBI-355 and BBI-825. It also plans to fund an extrachromosomal DNA diagnostic test called ECHO.
Date: Feb. 2-6 Value: $100 million
Fractyl, a company developing treatments for type 2 diabetes and obesity, initially set its sights on $99 million in its IPO, before raising its goal to $110 million. Its gross proceeds were ultimately $100 million. Fractyl’s main therapies are Revita, a device for inserting fluid into the small intestine to remodel the duodenal lining, and Rejuva PGTx, a pancreatic gene therapy.
8. Metagenomi
Date: Feb 9-13 Value: $93.75 million
Metagenomi went public in February, touting its metagenomics genome editing tools. It initially planned to raise $86.9 million, but the IPO closed with nearly $94 million despite share prices falling during its debut. The company has multiple preclinical and discovery-stage assets and had early support from companies such as Moderna, which exited its gene-editing deal with Metagenomi in May but remains a shareholder.
Date: Feb 9-13 Value: $7 million
Telomir went public in February, with gross proceeds meeting its $7 million prediction. The company is developing Telomir-1, a small molecule drug that aims to lengthen telomeres at the ends of chromosomes to prolong cell division and slow aging.
Date: Announced May 17 Value: Undisclosed
Rapport is developing RAP-219, a tablet that targets a neuronal receptor–associated protein for the AMPA receptor to treat epilepsy and eventually psychiatric conditions. The company is also developing a long-acting injectable form of RAP-219 and treatments that target nicotinic acetylcholine receptors for pain, hearing disorders and psychiatric conditions.
11. Telix Pharma
Date: Announced May 17 Value: Undisclosed
The company’s prostate cancer PET scan agent Illuccix was approved by the FDA in 2021 and received an expanded label in 2023. It’s hoping to further expand Illuccix’s label and develop other late-stage products.
Nadia Bey is a freelance reporter from North Carolina. Her work and contact information can be found at nadiabey.com. Reporting contributed by Jef Akst, managing editor of BioSpace.
