The good news for Vital Therapies Inc. is that the company managed to eke out its initial public offering (IPO) despite the recent selloff in biotechnology stocks. The bad news is that Vital, like two other April graduates, slashed its price to get out the door. The San Diego-based firm raised $54 million, with most of the proceeds slated to fund late-stage trials of Elad, its human cell-based bio-artificial liver system.