The first IPO of 2024 is a greatly upsized one from CG Oncology Inc., which is looking to sell 20 million shares (NASDAQ:CGON) of its common stock at $19 each. The company initially had looked to raise about $200.6 million by selling its shares somewhere from $16 to $18 each but adjusted its thinking before the Jan. 25 debut, now looking for gross proceeds of $389 million. CG is in phase III testing with cretostimogene in patients with high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer who are unresponsive to Bacillus Calmette Guerin therapy. Others looking to launch IPOs on Nasdaq in 2024 include Kyverna Therapeutics Inc., Arrivent Biopharma Inc., Metagenomi Technologies LLC, Alto Neuroscience Inc. and Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Biopharma IPO class of 2023 ends the year with performance up 7%

Despite a barely open IPO window in 2023, 27 biopharma firms went public in the year. It’s the lowest number since 2012 recorded 11 IPOs in the sector. However, encouraging news is that of companies that debuted on U.S. markets, overall the IPO class of 2023 is up an average of 7.48%. In 2000-2022, the biopharma market has priced an average of 44 IPOs per year, making the 27 in 2023 a decline of 39% from the average. The years of 2020-2021 were outliers, with 106 and 134 IPOs, respectively. However, the industry has seen an IPO drought before and recovered, such as five IPOs in 2008 and six IPOs in 2009, followed by a slight recovery in 2010-2012 that still did not reach levels seen in prior years.

Venture investment in UK biotech reaches £1.25B in 2023 despite VC cash crunch

In the face of the short supply of venture capital, the U.K. biotech sector weathered the storm in 2023, raising a total of £1.25 billion (US$1.6 billion) across 69 deals. That was 6% down on 2022, but has to be seen against the backdrop of U.K. VC investment across all sectors falling by a massive 43%. With follow-on financing by quoted companies, biotechs raised £1.8 billion overall. The U.K. maintained its leading position in Europe, attracting 41% of all venture capital going into biotech companies. Foreign investors contributed 40% of the total. The average size of seed rounds was £7 million, series A £31 million, and for series B and beyond the average was £43 million. But across all rounds, the mean deal size was £18.2 million, well below the mean of £31.2 million in the EU and £53.5 million in the U.S.

Vera rises on phase IIb OLE data with atacicept in IgAN

Shares of Vera Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA) were trading midday at $22.30, up $5.28, or 31%, on positive 72-week data from the open-label extension period of its phase IIb Origin trial of atacicept in participants with IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Brisbane, Calif.-based Vera, which is hosting its R&D Day today, said that altogether, the data are “consistent with a profile of true disease modification” in IgAN. Atacicept binds to BLyS and APRIL on their cognate receptors, and has been shown to neutralize all forms of the pair’s homo/heterotrimers, inhibiting their effects on B-cell survival and functions.

BIO’s infectious disease report: Meager investment puts world at risk

Be it viral, nucleic acid or protein vaccines, recent efforts that led to the first regulatory approvals for not only COVID-19, but also for malaria and respiratory syncytial virus, positioned infectious diseases in the headlines for much of the last four years. But despite that attention, or the threat of future pandemics, or the numerous infectious diseases for which there are no preventable vaccines and very little development activity, the level of private and public funding for biopharma companies working in the space is dismal – at least compared with that of oncology products, according to a new analysis report released by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) on Jan. 25. Venture capital investments for vaccine companies, for example, totaled $6.5 billion over the past decade, representing 3.4% of total VC dollars, compared with $72.6 billion for oncology drug development.

Also in the news

Actinogen, Aim Immunotech, Akouos, Anavex, Annovis, Ascletis, Awakn, Biomunex, Biosion, Celularity, Cytomx, Effector, Eli Lilly, Endeavor, Ferring, Genome & Co., Harbour, Heron, Innocare, Karuna, Karxt, Kronos, Lava, Legend, Leo, Moleculin, Onward, Orphai, Osivax, Pharmabcine, Prime Medicine, Redhill, Relive, Renexxion, Repare, Revive, Sciwind, Sensorion, Sionna, Sparingvision, Theratechnologies, Tourmaline, Urogen, Zentalis