Despite a global pandemic that is wreaking havoc on the overall economy, biopharma financings and grants during the month of April have shown solid numbers.
BEIJING – Pre-revenue Chinese biotech Akeso Inc., of Zhongshan, Guangdong province, launched a high-profile IPO on April 24 in Hong Kong to reap HK$2.4 billion (US$314 million), even though the economy is taking a hard hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oric Pharmaceuticals Inc. stepped into a tough economic climate on Friday when it priced its IPO of 7.5 million shares of common stock at $16 each and won the day as shares (NASDAQ:ORIC) closed at $25.77 each, 61.06% higher than they started.
Although public offerings slowed considerably in March as a result of the steepest stock market declines in history during that period, global biopharmaceutical companies managed to collectively generate just over $16 billion in the first quarter from a record number public and private transactions. Only the first quarter of 2018 saw more cash raised in the past decade, according to BioWorld data.
Against a backdrop of nearly 15 global biopharma IPOs on deck on a day when all major U.S. market indices fell, shares of cancer drug developer Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNTL) shot up 29% to $23.20 on April 3 after an upsized initial filing to sell 9.2 million shares at a top-of-range $18 each.
BEIJING – Cancer and autoimmune specialist Innocare Pharma Ltd., of Beijing, made a strong debut to raise $288 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on March 23, marking the second biggest IPO in the city since the beginning of this year.
BEIJING – Chinese biosimilar maker Bio-Thera Solutions Ltd., of Guangzhou, on Feb. 21 launched a pre-revenue listing on Shanghai’s STAR market, a Nasdaq-style tech board, to reap $241 million at a valuation of almost $2 billion. Its share price soared more than 83% during its first trading day.
Revolution Medicines Inc. (NASDAQ:RVMD) shares closed at $28.90, a 70% jump above the $17 price in its upsized IPO of 14 million shares, which raised $238 million, showing further confidence in the Redwood City, Calif.-based company’s bid to blast cancer targets once deemed “undruggable.”
BEIJING – Zhongshan-based Akeso Inc., which focuses on bispecific antibodies, is again seeking pre-revenue listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), after its first IPO attempt failed to go through in December. The move comes at a time when analysts believe the coronavirus outbreak is weighing on the city’s IPO market.
Investors in small and midsized biopharma companies were certainly rewarded in 2019, with group members in the BioWorld Drug Developers index on a tear. The price-weighted index returned 40% in value thanks to a steady flow of positive regulatory and clinical trial results from the companies throughout the year. However, investors may be less impressed with the start they have made this year, with the index dipping 8.4% in January.
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