BEIJING – Three-year-old startup Everest Medicines Ltd. (1952.HK) sold 63 million shares at HK$55 apiece to raise HK$3.49 billion (US$451 million) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Oct 9. Shares were oversubscribed by 654 times in Hong Kong.

The appetite for biopharma IPOs this year has been voracious with no signs of a slowdown anytime soon. Year-to-date, a total of $14.63 billion was raised from 66 new global issues, a total that is already well ahead of the $10.7 billion in 2018, from 80 transactions, that represented the previous record for IPOs. In terms of volume, BioWorld has recorded that the highest number of IPOs in a single year was 84 in 2014, followed by 83 in 2000.

BEIJING – Biologics developer Genor Biopharma Co. Ltd. raised HK$2.69 billion (US$347 million) via a pre-revenue IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Oct. 7, with shares (HKEX:6998) trading 16.25% higher to close at HK$27.95.

Two well-received precision oncology IPOs closed out the week, joined by a successful ophthalmic specialty IPO and an immunotherapy debut that fell flat. P53 mutation hunter PMV Pharmaceuticals Inc. charged out the gate, raising $211.8 million, while Prelude Therapeutics Inc. took in $158.2 million.

Upsized IPOs for high-profile psychedelics venture Compass Pathways plc and the neurodegenerative specialist Athira Pharma Inc. debuted on Nasdaq on Sept. 18, climbing fast alongside a forward-looking follow-on offering from cytokine storm fighter Humanigen Inc. Compass (NASDAQ:CMPS) raised $127.5 million, while Athira (NASDAQ:ATHA) brought in $204 million. Humanigen (NASDAQ:HGEN) raised $68 million.

Athira Pharma Inc.’s proposed $100 million IPO, along with a filing by Virios Therapeutics LLC to raise $35 million on Aug. 28, helped propel a supercharged amount of investment in 2020 that shows no sign of slowing. The pace is unusually swift this year despite hindrances from COVID-19. The total value of IPOs so far in 2020 is $12.95 billion, with 54 completed, easily outpacing 2019’s $8.64 billion.

Annexon Biosciences Inc.’s handsome $250 million IPO this summer verified the mounting interest in its two front-running C1q inhibitors: ANX-005, which has turned up promising phase Ib data in Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), with a phase II/III effort planned for next year, and ANX-007, due to enter a phase II experiment in geographic atrophy (GA) during 2021 as well.

Kymera Therapeutics Inc. debuted on NASDAQ Friday by pricing its upsized IPO of 8.68 million common shares at $20 each as it eyes gross proceeds of $173.3 million. By the end of the day, Kymera stock (NASDAQ:KYMR) had soared 66.3%, with shares closing at $33.26 each.

Fresh off raising $640 million in private financing earlier this summer, Germany's Curevac BV burst onto the public market Friday with a $213.3 million Nasdaq IPO. Priced at a top-of-range $16 per share (NADAQ:CVAC), the company's stock rose more than 249% to close at $55.90 Aug. 14, buoyed by enthusiasm for its mRNA vaccine program against SARS-CoV-2. Majority shareholder and longtime Curevac backer Dievini Hopp Biotech Holding GmbH & Co. KG invested €100 million (US$118.3 million) in the company through a concurrent private placement.