After a record run, fewer biotechs are going public. Here's how they're performing.
Initial public offerings are the lifeblood of the biotechnology industry. Stock listings give young companies the funding they need to develop their drugs, and their venture backers an opportunity to earn a return.
At the start of the last decade, markets weren't receptive to biotechs. But by 2013, public investment was pouring in, drawn by scientific advances and boosted by newfound interest from a broader range of investors.
Biotechs and their backers reaped the rewards for years, as more drugmakers than ever went public at valuations many times what was previously typical. In 2021, despite disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 100 biotechs priced an IPO, raising nearly $15 billion in total.
That momentum recently came to a halt, however. Stock prices of newly public companies plummeted in late 2021 amid a sector-wide downturn that weakened interest in biotech offerings throughout 2022. The pace of IPOs stalled, leaving emerging drugmakers with a tougher road to the public markets. Last year only 22 drugmakers priced new offerings.
Which biotechs will make it to Wall Street? Which create value and which fail? What types of companies earn the best returns? Who are their investors?
Biopharma Dive is tracking these questions in the database below, which will be updated regularly. Click on a company to pull up more information, and scroll to the bottom of the page to read how this information was collected and organized. If there's anything we've missed, or any additional information you'd like to see, please reach out and let us know.
Editor's note: If tables or values do not display below, please try clearing your browser's cache and reloading the page.
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Biotech IPOs, by year and proceeds
Biotech IPOs, by year and stage of development
Biotech IPOs, by year and therapeutic category
Biotech IPOs, by year and drug type being developed
Methodology
For this story, BioPharma Dive included biotech companies that raised funds in an initial public offering on a U.S. stock exchange. We defined biotechs as developers of human medicines. IPOs by special purpose acquisition companies, as well as by diagnostics and medical device makers, aren't included.
Company and investor information was collected from the Form S-1 companies file with the Securities and Exchange Commission before an IPO.
Shareholder names are listed by firm, rather than the specific fund that invested in a company. Individual trusts or holdings that own 50% or more of a company are also noted. In some cases, particularly with smaller IPOs, individual people are listed.
The equity raised before an offering typically consists of both stock and convertible securities, and was collected from the "liquidity and capital resources" and "financing activities" sections of an S-1. Total proceeds refers to the money raised at IPO pricing and doesn't always reflect subsequent exercise of options by underwriters.
Current share prices, percent change and market capitalization are pulled from Google Finance. For companies with "N/A," the figures returned by Google Finance do not reflect the correct value and are omitted, or the companies have since delisted or been acquired.
Equity percentages and money raised are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Companies running multi-phase trials are listed by the earlier phase.
