IPO Update: Will Declining Returns Slow Fast Pace Of Biopharma Offerings?

Offerings by Homology, Unum and Genprex at the end of March brought the first quarter's biopharma IPO total to 14 in the US, putting 2018 on track to beat the 2017 total of 42. But with the average return for this year's IPOs dropping, the pace of offerings could slow.

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The 14 biopharmaceutical companies that have gone public so far this year in the US provided an average return of 18.6% at the end of the first quarter, dropping from an average return of 52.8% just a few weeks ago when only 10 drug developers had launched initial public offerings.

Scrip's last look at IPOs noted that returns from first-time offerings far outpaced broader stock indices as of March 9, which would explain why so many biopharma companies went public in the first quarter. If this year's pace of 14 IPOs per quarter keeps up, 2018 will beat 2017 when 42 therapeutics firms went public in the US and generated an average return of 33.2%

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