In the thick of third quarter earnings, it's sometimes easy to forget that the biotech sector has generated a bumper crop of initial public offerings (IPO) this year, with the record of 66 U.S. IPOs set all the back in 2000 poised to fall before year-end. (See BioWorld Insight, Sept. 22, 2014.)

In fact, that event is likely to happen sooner rather than later, as Fibrogen Inc. set terms Thursday, upsizing its IPO to $155 million, including overallotments, by offering 7.1 million shares priced between $16 and $19. Since Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Inc. simultaneously pulled its IPO filing, citing its potential acquisition agreement with Actavis plc, that leaves three dozen biotechs sitting in the queue and waiting for the right market opportunity. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 29, 2014, and Oct. 3, 2014.)

There's mostly good news in the year-to-date biotech IPO story. Despite a temporary biotech dent in March, perhaps incited by Federal Reserve Bank president William Dudley, biotech stocks have been relatively strong performers all year. (See BioWorld Today, March 11, 2014.)

Still, it's interesting to observe a few trends. Among the 63 biotechs that went public on the U.S. markets and are not trading as ADS shares, 33 are in the black for the year, according to BioWorld Snapshots. Gains, through Wednesday's market close, ranged from 0.1 percent for Proteon Therapeutics Inc. to 155.7 percent for Immune Design Corp. Among the laggards, losses ranged from 2.2 percent for Proqr Therapeutics BV to 65.4 percent for Recro Pharma Inc. (See BioWorld Today, March 10, 2014, July 25, 2014, and Sept. 19, 2014.)

Companies that priced in June seem to have found the market's sweet spot. All are trading in the black.

To date, companies that priced in October also are ahead of the game, with shares of Atara Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) making the Top 10 with a gain of 70.9 percent. (See BioWorld Today, June 24, 2014.)

In contrast, only one company that priced in March, Applied Genetic Technologies Corp., remains ahead of the game, but in a big way, with shares (NASDAQ:AGTC) up 61.5 percent. (See BioWorld Today, March 28, 2014.)

Among the leaders, Immune Design's shares (NASDAQ:IMDZ) have soared 155.7 percent since pricing at $12 in July. The stock is trading at the top of its range, hitting a new high of $31.53 on Thursday, on a spate of good news, including several lucrative deals with Sanofi SA, of Paris. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 8, 2014.)

Scaling back the size of its IPO did not hurt Radius Health Inc., which has seen a run-up of almost 150 percent since pricing its shares (NASDAQ:RDUS) in June at $8. And rare disease firm Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. remains a darling of the Street, with its shares (NASDAQ:RARE) up nearly 140 percent since pricing at $21 in January. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 3, 2014, and June 9, 2014.)

But the public markets haven't been kind to all comers. In addition to Recro, Nephrogenex Inc.'s shares (NASDAQ:NRX) are off some 65 percent since the company priced at $12 in February, despite advancing pyridoxamine dihydrochloride into a phase III study in diabetic nephropathy. (See BioWorld Today, June 20, 2014.)

Contrafect Corp., which upsized its July IPO to $36 million, and Globeimmune Inc., which had to make a second run at an IPO, are down 50 percent from their pricings, both in July. (See BioWorld Today, March 18, 2014, and July 30, 2014.)

Which biotech will smash the IPO record, and how many will price in the traditional year-end flurry? Stay tuned.