On news that drove shares up by 36% on Sept. 3, San Carlos, Calif.-based Vaxcyte Inc. priced a $1.3 billion follow-on offering a day later. It is the fourth highest amount raised through a follow-on offering of shares in BioWorld’s records, as well as the second largest financing of all types for 2024, behind New York-based Pfizer Inc.’s $3.1 billion global sale of shares in March.

Biopharma IPOs have faced tough conditions in recent years, but 2024 is showing signs of improvement in terms of value, while stumbling on overall performance. IPO values remain significantly lower than the peak years of 2020-2021 and are still below collective values seen in 2014-2019, however, this year's value marks a recovery compared to the challenging environment of 2023.

Artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery company Noetik Inc. has closed on an oversubscribed $40 million series A financing round. The company plans to use the money to expand its atlas of human cancer biology with its in vivo CRISPR platform to advance a pipeline of cancer therapeutics to the clinic. In describing its approach, the company said that making a genuine impact on drug discovery requires computational capabilities to understand and simulate disease biology at the patient level, identifying the right targets and matching them with the right therapies.

Cumulus Oncology Ltd. is in the thick of raising a $50 million series A round as its model of sourcing novel drug targets emerging from academia, shaping them up for clinical development, and spinning them into startups, gathers pace. At the same time, Nodus Oncology Ltd., the first spinout created around an acquired asset, has just reached in vivo proof of concept with its lead DNA damage response inhibitor, and it, too, is looking to raise a series A to take the program through to the end of phase I.