After what many considered a “slow” year for IPOs, January has ushered in a string of biotechs filing to go public. But 2024 wasn’t slow—it was actually quite normal.

“This is a really rational IPO environment,” Sofinnova Investments General Partner Maha Katabi, Ph.D., said during Fierce’s J.P. Morgan Week panel on Jan. 15. “I hear a lot of lament about not enough IPOs. But you know what? It's really great to be in an environment where the right companies are the ones that are accessing the public markets.”

The buzz around biotech IPOs is continuing through January, with clinical-stage metabolic company Aardvark Therapeutics revealing plans to go public while Hong Kong-listed Ascentage Pharma joins the Nasdaq with a $126.4 million offering.

• Beta Bionics, the developer of the iLet Bionic Pancreas, is attempting to raise $114 million through an IPO.
• Since launching the iLet in May 2023, Beta Bionics has experienced substantial growth.

Ab&B Bio-Tech has joined the stacked roster of drug developers queuing up to go public in Hong Kong, filing the paperwork for an IPO to fund development of vaccines that could compete with companies including GSK, Merck & Co. and Pfizer.

A trio of Chinese biotechs have filed to go public, setting the stage for offerings that could fill the coffers of companies that have big deals with Bristol Myers Squibb and Takeda.

Two biotechnology startups on Friday revealed plans to launch initial public offerings, extending a step-up in IPO activity among privately held drug companies.

As 2025 begins, emerging biotechnology firms can be sorted into two groups: haves and have-nots.

Venture funding rose last year, but a good portion of that money was concentrated into nine-figure “megarounds” that became more common. Initial public offerings were primarily open only to companies that fit a certain profile. And among already public U.S. biotechs, many saw their stock prices slide as pharmaceutical companies looked elsewhere for deals.

Just a month after announcing a $115 million series D financing to advance its lead assets, Maze Therapeutics is looking to boost its kidney disease candidates further by going public.

Health In Tech (NASDAQ: HIT), a leader in the Insurtech space, has successfully raised $9.2 million in its initial public offering (IPO) to fuel its innovative platform. Insurtech, which is the use of technology to innovate and improve the insurance industry, leverages AI, big data, machine learning and more to automate processes, reduce administrative costs and enhance risk assessment accuracy.

Will 2025 be better? After another tough year, the answer to that question will shape the prospects of innumerable drug candidates and the lives of people who work in biotech. Evaluate analysts made predictions in their 2025 preview—and anyone expecting a dramatic turnaround should look away now.