Biopharma’s top 5 IPOs of 2023 (so far)

In another year defined by a turbulent market, Kenvue, Johnson & Johnson’s Consumer Health business spin-off, gave the healthcare industry its largest IPO since 2018, netting $4.24 billion.

“This is the largest healthcare IPO since Siemens spun out device company Siemens Healthineers in a $5.17 billion IPO in 2018,” said Patricia Giglio, director of deals intelligence at Citeline.

Kenvue’s success was unsurprising given the strength of its existing brands, which include Tylenol, Band-Aid, Pepcid and Neosporin.

While Kenvue’s IPO was a behemoth, it was also an outlier. And when it comes to biopharmas, the top five IPOs of 2023 have been much smaller, ranging from $540 million to $192 million and so far haven’t topped the highest IPOs of 2022 or 2021, which were in turn down from a huge 2020.

This year’s biggest biopharma IPOs run the gamut from oncology to mental health, and late-stage organizations with multiple candidates to a company banking on just one. Here are the top five biotech IPOs of 2023 so far.

Acelyrin

The IPO: $540 million in May

The rundown: Acelyrin is a late-stage biotech focusing on immunology by acquiring and accelerating the development and commercialization of medicines. Despite its high-dollar IPO, the company’s lead prospect, izokibep, failed a late-phase clinical trial in September. Giglio described izokibep as “an antibody mimetic targeting IL-17A through topline data in phase 2b/3 trials in hidradenitis suppurativa, psoriatic arthritis, and uveitis.” The company’s pipeline also includes lonigutamab, which is being studied in thyroid eye disease; and a chronic urticaria med dubbed SLRN-517.

Apogee Therapeutics

The IPO: $345 million in July

The rundown: “With the largest IPO of the second quarter, the start-up aims to develop differentiated biologics for the treatment of atopic dermatitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and related inflammatory and immunology indications with high unmet need,” Giglio said. Its two most advanced programs are subcutaneous extended half-life monoclonal antibodies, which the company believes will have improved dosing schedules compared to the standard of care. In August, the company said it initiated dosing of healthy volunteers in the first clinical trial for APG777, its lead product candidate for atopic dermatitis and other inflammatory diseases.

RayzeBio

The IPO: $358 million in September

The rundown: Targeted radiopharmaceutical RayzeBio is going after validated solid tumor indications with its pipeline and had “already raised $418 million in disclosed venture financing prior to the IPO,” Giglio said. 

Its lead program, RYZ101, is currently in a phase 3 trial in patients with SSTR-expressing gasteroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and a phase 1b trial in patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer. RayzeBio’s pipeline also includes drugs for other tumor targets.

Neumora Therapeutics

The IPO: $250 million in September

The rundown: ARCH Venture Partners made a splashy 2021 debut with Neumora, an Amgen-backed, clinical-stage company with a precision neuroscience platform aimed at developing targeted therapies for brain diseases. At its launch, Neumora had a portfolio of eight clinical, preclinical, and discovery-stage programs from a combination of internal discovery, the acquisitions of multiple private companies, and license agreements with Amgen. For instance, through its “acquisition of neurobehavioral health company BlackThorn, Neumora gained a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI)-powered computational psychiatry and data platform as well as two pipeline assets: navacaprant (NMRA-140), an oral kappa opioid receptor antagonist for major depressive disorder, now in phase 3, with topline results anticipated in [the second half of] 2024, and NMRA-511, a vasopressin receptor antagonist with potential in multiple diseases across anxiety, aggression, and stress,” Giglio said.