IPO Update: With Just Two Small Offerings In Q2, What’s Next?
Seven US Launches In First Half Vs. 12 In H1 2024
With low valuations for biopharma companies that recently went public and little hope of a near-term turnaround as uncertainty lingers, IPO numbers may stay low for the rest of 2025.
The market for biopharmaceutical company initial public offerings experienced a slight increase in 2024, raising hopes that 2025 may be the year that the IPO market gains greater growth momentum. However, any progress made in the first quarter when six drug developers went public on Western stock exchanges – including five firms in the US – was lost in the second quarter when just two small IPOs launched, each raising $20m or less.
Scrip tracked 25 biopharma IPOs in the US in 2024, up from 21 in 2023, which was a welcome upturn for an industry struggling since 2022 to reengage investors after first-time offerings reached record levels in 2020 and 2021. But with only two of the 25 companies that went public last year still trading above their IPO prices as of July 15, and with macroeconomic and pharma industry-related uncertainties persisting in 2025, the second quarter and first half have been brutal for IPOs.
With seven US offerings between Q1 and Q2 that raised a total of $949.3m, the pace of IPOs this year is far off the pace established in 2024, when 12 drug developers raised $1.99bn in first-time offerings in the US during the first half of the year. The quarterly pace of three or four offerings so far in 2025 is nearly half of the almost six IPOs per quarter in the US in 2024. In addition, the average IPO size has fallen to $135.6m from $165.6m.
Note: Evaluate data prior to 2025 may not align with Scrips US IPO count.Source: Evaluate Pharma, Scrip
Biopharma IPOs on Western stock exchanges dropped from six in the first quarter to two in the second quarter; in the US alone first-time offerings fell from five in Q1 to two in Q2.
With all but two of the drug developers in the class of 2024 trading below their offering prices and ongoing macroeconomic and industry uncertainties, the IPO window may be closed for now.
A few glimmers of hope: Asian IPO markets may be opening up and most of the seven biopharma firms that went public in the US during the first half of 2025 are trading in positive territory.
Outside of the US and other Western exchanges, Asian investors are beginning to show interest in homegrown biopharma offerings, however, with 10 health care-related IPOs in South Korea during the first half of the year, including drug developers IntoCell, ImmuneOncia and Orum Therapeutics.
In China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange may offer a path for Chinese companies to go public prior to generating revenues after the China Securities Regulatory Commission tightened regulations on pre-revenue IPOs in 2024.
The US remains the market where most companies and many investors focus their attention, however, and IPO prospects remain dim for the rest of 2025. Investors speaking at the BIO International Convention in June advised biopharma firms not to focus on an IPO for near-term research and development funding, since the window for new offerings is essentially closed. Instead, companies should sharpen the focus of their drug development pipelines, so they are ready for an IPO when the time is right, the investors suggested.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange may offer a path for Chinese companies to go public.
Uncertainty Persists, But A Glimmer Of Hope
Interest rates remain a major macroeconomic factor impacting investment in biopharma, but industry-specific challenges emerging in the US this year have uncertain resolutions, including whether or not the Trump administration will implement most-favored nation drug pricing that benchmarks the cost of medicines reimbursed by government programs at lower costs paid in other countries. It also remains unclear whether or when the US will include pharmaceutical products in tariffs on imports from outside the country.
On top of macroeconomic conditions, drug pricing concerns, potential tariffs on therapeutics, and ongoing staffing cuts and leadership changes at the US Food and Drug Administration make investors especially reluctant to put money into biopharma IPOs.
One glimmer of hope for the sector may be performance to date for companies that have gone public in 2025. Four of the seven firms closed in positive territory on their first day of trading and delivered an average one-day return of 9.4%. And by the time the market closed on July 15, five drug developers were trading in positive territory, with an average return of 32.5% above their IPO prices. (See table below for individual company performance.)
Driving that gain were two unsurprising companies in popular categories for investors – cancer drug development and obesity. Oncology-focused Ascentage and weight loss drug maker Metsera each have delivered triple-digit returns for their IPO investors since their public market debuts in January.
The two companies that launched IPOs in Q2 have delivered mixed returns to date. Apimeds grossed $13.5m in its May offering to fund a Phase III program for its lead candidate in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee, but its stock price is down 55.8% from its IPO price as of July 15.
However, Jyong Biotech’s stock price is up 56% since its IPO, which grossed $20m in June to fund a Phase III trial and US filing for MCS-2, the company’s lead drug candidate for urinary system diseases.
Biopharma IPOs In The US So Far In 2025
Performance to date is impressive relative to 2024, with most companies that have gone public in 2025 trading in positive territory and with their stock prices improving over time.
Company
IPO Date
IPO Price
Gross Proceeds ($m)
First Day Close
Return Vs. IPO
15 July Closing Price
Ascentage Pharma (AAPG)
24-Jan
$17.25
$142.5
$17.38
0.8%
$36.76
113.1%
Metsera Inc. (MTSR)
30-Jan
$18
$316.2
$26.50
47.2%
$42.98
138.8%
Maze Therapeutics Inc. (MAZE)
$16
$140
$15.95
-0.3%
$16.01
0.1%
Sionna Therapeutics Inc. (SION)
6-Feb
$219.2
$25
38.9%
$18.53
2.9%
Aardvark Therapeutics Inc. (AARD)
12-Feb
$97.9
$14.31
-10.6%
$11.61
-27.4%
Apimeds Pharmaceuticals US Inc. (APUS)
8-May
$4
$13.5
$2.20
-45%
$1.77
-55.8%
Jyong Biotech Ltd. (MENS)
16-Jun
$7.50
$20
$10.11
34.8%
$11.70
56%
Total: $949.3m
Average: 9.4%
Average: 32.5%
Source: Company disclosures, Scrip
