Biopharma had a busy year in 2021. One of the largest biopharma funding rounds in history occurred in the first quarter of 2021. With an IPO amount of US$3.5 billion, Beigene Co. Ltd, an oncology focused company headquartered in China with global branches, crowned 2021’s IPOs. BeiGene was the first biotech company to be triple-listed on the NASDAQ, Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and STAR Market. Other notable companies with IPO amount ranging from $300M to $600M include Sana Biotechnology, a cell therapy developer still in the preclinical stage, Prestige BioPharma, Instil Bio, and Recursion Pharmaceuticals which raised $436.4 million to continue clinical development of drug candidates discovered by its AI platform.
Month | Company | Amount($M) | Therapy Area | Modality | Sub-Modality | Country | Stage at IPO | Market |
February | Sana Biotechnology | 676 | Neurology | Biologics | Cell Theray | USA | Preclinical | NASDAQ |
February | Prestige BioPharma | 411 | Multiple | Biologics | Protein/Antibodies | Singapore | Phase III | KOSPI (Korea) |
March | Instil Bio | 320 | Oncology | Biologics | Cell Therapy | USA | Phase I | NASDAQ |
April | Recursion Pharmaceuticals | 436 | Multiple | Small Molecule | Small Molecule | USA | Phase II | NASDAQ |
May | Centessa Pharmaceuticals | 330 | Multiple | Multiple | Multiple | United Kingdom | Phase III | NASDAQ |
June | Lyell Immunopharma | 425 | Oncology | Biologics | Cell Therapy | USA | Preclinical | NASDAQ |
June | Verve Therapeutics | 306.7 | Cardiovascular | Biologics | Gene Therapy | USA | Preclinical | NASDAQ |
June | Carsgen Therapeutics Holdings Ltd. | 400 | Oncology | Biologics | Cell Therapy | China | Phase I | HKEX |
June | Lyell Immunopharma | 425 | Oncology | Biologics | Cell Therapy | USA | Preclinical | NASDAQ |
July | Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings | 350 | Neurology | Small Molecule | Small Molecule | USA | Phase III | NASDAQ |
July | Keymed Biosciences | 378.48 | Immuno-Oncology | Biologics | Antibody | China | Phase II | HKEX |
July | Brii Biosciences | 319 | Infectious Diseases | Biologics | Antibody | China | Phase II | HKEX |
July | Erasca | 345 | Oncology | Small Molecule | Small Molecule | USA | Phase II | NASDAQ |
July | Caribou Biosciences | 304 | Oncology | Biologics | Gene Therapy | USA | Phase I | NASDAQ |
August | Adagio Therapeutics | 309.4 | Infectious Diseases | Biologics | Antibody | USA | Phase II | NASDAQ |
August | Exscientia Inc. | 304.7 | Multiple | AI | Small Molecule | UK | Phase I | NASDAQ |
November | Lianbio Co. Ltd. | 325 | Multiple | Small Molecule | Small Molecule | China | Phase III | NASDAQ |
December | Beigene Co. Ltd. | 3500 | Oncology | Small Molecule | Small Molecule | China | Marketed | NASDAQ, HKSE, STAR |
Early-stage IPOs (preclinical, Phase I) have outperformed later stage IPOs since 2018. (phase II). The number of companies in the preclinical and phase I stages of development in 2021 reflects this. A few companies, including Beigene Co. Ltd., NLS Pharmaceutics, Sensei Biotherapeutics, and Biofrontera Inc., went public with already-available products.
Oncology focused biopharma companies accounted for more than 40% of biopharma IPOs in 2021, followed by companies with multiple therapeutic area focus and neurology focused companies.
Oncology-focused deals dominated the number of IPOs with top many top grossing companies in this category. Multiple therapy areas was next in line with Recursion Pharmaceuticals’ $436.0M,Prestige BioPharma’s $411.0M, Centessa Pharmaceuticals’ $330.0M and UK’s AI company Exscientia’s $304.70M.
Lianbio Co. Ltd. $325.00.Sana Biotechnology had the most amount of IPO in Neurology, companies like Design Therapeutics, Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings and ATAI Life Sciences also had significant IPOs of over $200M . Metabolic, Sensory, and Dermatology were some of the less-visited therapy areas.
The United States had the highest number of biopharma companies with initial public offering overall, followed by China, which remained Asia's majority of biopharma IPOs in 2021.
Although there were a record number of IPOs in 2021, post-IPO performance was significantly lower than in the previous two years. Experts predict that 2022 will not be as busy as the previous year particularly at the start of the year.
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