Finance Watch: Biopharma Stocks Attempt An April Rebound

First IPO Since February Raises Nearly $10m

Public Company Edition: With the XBI up more than 9% in April, a few follow-on offerings –$23m to support Gamida Cell’s small product launch and $500m to fund Vaxcyte’s large clinical trial program – have made it to market. Also, China’s CytoMed launched the sixth biopharma IPO in the US this year.

Finance Watch Public Company
• Source: Alamy

Biotechnology stocks in the US are still trading lower year-to-date, but valuations have risen significantly in April, suggesting that perhaps the winter chill hovering over the industry is beginning a spring thaw. The XBI fund is down 0.9% so far in 2023, but it has gained 8% since the end of March. As of 21 April, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) is up just 1.5% year-to-date but has gained 3.6% since last month.

More from Financing

AIRNA To Take RNA Editing Into The Clinic With $155m Series B Round

 
• By 

CEO Kris Elverum told Scrip about the start-up’s platform for editing RNA to correct genetic variants that cause harm and to reproduce healthy variants as a means of treating disease.

Isomorphic Adds To Growing AI War Chest With First External Funding Round

 

The four-year-old firm said it plans to advance programs toward the clinic from the funding round, which comes just over a year after signing two major pharma partnerships.

Finance Watch: European And Japanese Biotechs See VC Investor Interest In March

 
• By 

Private Company Edition: The latest group of drug developers to announce venture capital financings is remarkable for its geographic diversity, from Character Biosciences’ $93m series B round in the US to Augustine’s $85m series B in Belgium to a $29.2m series C for Aculys in Japan.

Japan T-Reg Venture RegCell Raises New Funds, Relocates To US

 
• By 

Kyoto-based venture moves HQ to California to expand R&D and business outreach for its regulatory T-cell technology, as it raises around $46m in public and private funding.

More from Business

Cerevance To Focus On Parkinson’s Adjunctive Therapy After Phase II Miss

 
• By 

After failing a Phase II monotherapy study in early Parkinson’s, Cerevance will focus on adjunctive therapy without abandoning the monotherapy concept.

Baxdrostat, AstraZeneca’s Next Big CVRM Bet

 
• By 

The firm has lofty ambitions for the aldosterone synthase inhibitor to treat hypertension and kidney disease.

Stock Watch: How Tariff Threat Might Boost Pharma Q1

 
• By 

Supply chain disruption fears at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic caused drug over-ordering. Imminent tariffs on drugs may have had a similar effect on pharma sales in Q1 earnings season.