After a record run, fewer biotechs are going public. Here’s how they’re performing.

At the start of the last decade, markets weren’t receptive to biotechs. But by 2013, public investment was pouring in, drawn by scientific advances and boosted by newfound interest from a broader range of investors.

Biotechs and their backers reaped the rewards for years, as more drugmakers than ever went public at valuations many times what was previously typical. In 2021, despite disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 100 biotechs priced an IPO, raising nearly $15 billion in total.

That momentum recently came to a halt, however. Stock prices of newly public companies plummeted in late 2021 amid a sector-wide downturn that weakened interest in biotech offerings throughout 2022