A record number of biotechs are going public. Here's how they're performing.

At the start of the last decade, the IPO markets weren't receptive to biotech companies. But by 2013, public investment was pouring into the industry, drawn by scientific advances and boosted by the newfound interest of a broader range of investors.

Ever since, biotechs and their backers have ridden a multi-year boom. Many young drugmakers, including those still years from human trials, have gone public at valuations never thought possible in the 2000s. Records have been made, and broken, several times over. In 2020, a new high water mark is being set during the deadliest pandemic in a century.