US initial public offerings by biopharmaceutical companies may be heating up again after a cool first quarter in which only four therapeutics firms launched IPOs, including three in January and two in March. Three more drug developers went public in April and at least six others are in the queue.
The warm-up began with on April 13 when San Diego-based Tocagen Inc. launched its IPO and the thaw continued when Verona Pharma PLC in London priced its US offering on April 27 and the Canadian firm Zymeworks Inc. went public on April 28. The companies capitalized on an April increase with the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) gaining 1.5% as of April 28 versus March 31