The very best 10 biotech IPOs of 2019
Last year when we did the list from the top 10 biotech IPOs of 2012, i was lucky to have 10. Actually, there have been 11, which looked very good when compared to lean and hungry years of 2008 to 2011. Only one from the companies needed to be excluded. This season, the very best 10 list is far more – competitive.
After years watching the barest glimmer of investor excitement in the high-risk biotech field, we’re seeing some real eagerness to acquire shares. Companies are setting their ranges greater than ever, plus some see stock prices shoot up around the first day.
That’s not a universal condition, of course. Some of this year’s type of biotech IPOs had to discount their stock price in order to make the jump in to the market. Others haven’t fared so well since their debuts. A minumum of one, Prosensa ($RNA), a 2012 Fierce 15 company and winner from the FDA’s “breakthrough therapy” designation, works as a cautionary tale of in which a wrong submit the clinic may take you. You’ll find a link at the bottom which will jump fully listing of 39 IPOs and 14 pitches from the year–biotech and diagnostics only, no devices or ag bio–and how their stock has performed by the close late last week.
Periodically, we’re treated to discussions about how this biotech IPO window is different–juxtaposed against angry polemics on the visible signs of a bubble in these numbers. Market trends, of course, always repeat themselves. On Wall Street, yesteryear is inevitably prologue. Plus some of the biotech fashions nowadays can quickly become tomorrow’s bell bottom jeans and hula hoops–plus a couple of Ford Pintos.
Here’s my pick of the top 10; companies that reaped major rewards for backers and executives. I used a mix of the IPO price when compared to range plus the amount raised and the subsequent rise in share price to make my selection. It’s also a somewhat subjective selection and listing, and visitors asked to comment on their email list and companies you may have preferred.
For the record, you are able to refer to this as a snapshot of where we are today when it comes to defining the 2019 version of what’s trendy in biotech. Two decades from now you can either look back and find out the bottom floor or glimpse the elevator doors that opened directly to the shaft.
Nowhere does the old Latin admonition of “caveat emptor” apply much better than in biotech. The rewards have been supersized this year. And so do the risks. — John Carroll, Editor-in-Chief. Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Fresh burst of biotech IPO pitches launches a busy Q4 season
After a small lull within the biotech IPO arena over the summer, new S-1s came piling in at the beginning of your fourth quarter as another round of hopefuls plunged into the market, looking to imitate a few of the stellar debuts which have greeted many drug developers this year.
Epizyme
Foundation Medicine
Portola Pharmaceuticals
Ophthotech
Agios Pharmaceuticals
MacroGenics
Receptos
Bluebird bio
Stemline
Aratana Therapeutics