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IPO Update: Returns Run Red For Most Biopharma Firms That Went Public In The US Last Year

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Nearly two-thirds of the 67 drug developers that launched an IPO in 2018 were trading below their offering price at the end of the year, bringing the average return to -7.5%. Even so, biopharma companies continue to line up for a US stock market debut.

Businessman presses button ipo Initial Public Offering diagram online network. - Image

There were a lot of outliers in the US market for drug developer initial public offerings in 2018, including the biggest-ever biopharmaceutical IPO, but on average the returns on these investments were negative by the end of the year.

While 67 biopharma companies managed to launch IPOs in the US in 2018, 41 of these firms were trading below their offering prices as of Dec. 31, bringing the average return to -7.5% (see table below). That's a significant drop from the average of 0.3% for the 61 companies that went public last year as of Oct. 31

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