Ann Arbor, Mich.-based startup Endra Life Sciences Inc. started out focused on a photoacoustic imaging tool for mice in the lab, but in recent years it has shifted gears. Now, it aims to secure the go-ahead next year from European and U.S. regulators to launch a thermo-acoustic enhanced ultrasound system designed to quantitatively assess liver fat, known as TAEUS.
A total of 18 med-tech companies that have gone public on U.S. exchanges this year are showing a positive percentage change in stock value on average of 43%, despite large price drops for Personalis Inc. and Guardion Health Sciences Inc.
Washington-based life sciences conglomerate Danaher Corp. has executed a long-anticipated spinout for its dental products business Envista Holdings Corp. via a $589 million IPO. Based in Brea, Calif., the company priced a bit below the middle of the anticipated share price range at $22 and sold 26.8 million shares, as it had planned.
Pleasanton, Calif.-based 10x Genomics Inc. priced its initial public offering to raise $390 million and then immediately climbed in the first hours of trading. The single-cell sequencing company had upwardly revised its share price range twice – and then priced above the latest one at $39 per share, heading to above $55 (NASDAQ:TXG) in its first few hours as a public company. That gave it a market cap of about $5.1 billion. 10x Genomics also took advantage of its momentum by boosting the number of shares to 10 million from the anticipated 9 million.
It has been a few years since there was an active market for digital health IPOs. But that's changed now. Chronic health care management company Livongo Health Inc. has raised $355 million in an IPO, following last month's $609 million public debut for health care workflow management software company Change Healthcare Inc.
IPOs in the United States may be lagging overall, but in med-tech we have seen a flurry of IPO activity, sparking some long overdue optimism regarding the health of the industry. Most recently, Natera, a California-based company, began trading (NASDAQ: NTRA) this past Thursday at $22.10 after pricing 10 million shares of its common stock at $18, the high end of the expected $17 to $18 range. Natera is a genetic testing company that develops non-invasive methods for analyzing DNA. ConforMIS, a Massachusetts-based company, also received a warm welcome from investors when it began trading last Wednesday (NASDAQ: CFMS) at...