Is it Getting Breezy In Here? Biotech IPO Climate Improving

Although biotech M&A exits continue to be more profitable than the public markets for venture investors, the pace of initial public offerings has picked up noticeably in recent months. Indeed, in recent weeks Precision Therapeutics Inc. , Archemix Corp. , and Biolex Inc. have all filed to go public. [See Deal][See Deal][See Deal] But not only have more IPOs been filed over the past twelve months than the preceding twelve months, the more recent IPOs have collectively raised over 50% more: roughly $1.4 billion from September 2005 through August 2006 compared with $2.1 billion in the past twelve months. (See Exhibit 1.)

This uptick in fundraising has little to do with the increasing pace of IPO filings however; though there were 61 biotech IPOs filed since September 2006 versus 50 from September...