IPO Update: Average Return Turns Negative For Newly Public Biopharma Firms

Number Of IPOs Tops 2020 Total With A Quarter Left In 2021

With 88 initial public offerings in the US through the end of the third quarter of 2021, the biopharma industry is two IPOs ahead of the full-year 2020 total, but with an average return of -4% momentum may slow.

IPO icon over $100 bill
Biopharma IPOs occurred in the US in record numbers but delivered mostly negative returns • Source: Alamy

More biopharmaceutical companies have gone public in the US during 2021 than in 2020, breaking the record set last year with a quarter left to go, but the momentum may slow in the fourth quarter now that returns generated by this year’s crop of newly public firms has turned negative. The 88 companies that went public through the third quarter of this year delivered a 4% loss, on average as of 4 October.

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