Biotech IPOs heated up to start 2024. Will the surge last?

After more than two years in the doldrums, initial public offerings, an important indicator of the biotechnology industry’s health, have shown signs of life.

A run of offerings in the first six weeks of 2024, most worth around $100 million or more, has put the sector on its strongest pace since 2021. Those IPOs, combined with the recovery of biotech’s two flagship stock funds and a dealmaking surge, have given industry watchers reasons to be optimistic.