Based: Cambridge, MA
Stock symbol: EPZM
Range: $13 to $15
IPO price: $15
Close Oct. 17: $36.90
Change: Up 146%
Raised: $80 million
The scoop: Epizyme is one of those companies that wouldn't have had a chance making it through the IPO window in the bleak years following the 2008 financial crisis. But it proves to be a powerful example of what investors are attracted to today. When it laid out its IPO plans in the spring, just as biotech IPOs were turning red-hot, its lead candidate had been in a Phase I study for a mere 7 months. But the company has a marquee partner for the leukemia drug EPZ-5676 in Celgene ($CELG) and made the case that it can follow some industry trailblazers which have found some viable shortcuts in the years-long process of developing new cancer drugs. Following a trail of molecularly targeted medicines attracted a perfect storm of buying activity for the stock, which drove up the price 53% in the first day of trading. And that cleared a path for other similar biotech IPOs that followed later in the year. Epizyme was a 2011 Fierce 15 company.
For more:
Special Report: 2011 Fierce 15 - Epizyme
Epizyme picks up FDA orphan nod for lead cancer drug as going public pays off
Epizyme scores latest biotech IPO victory to advance cancer pipeline
Epizyme hits the biotech IPO queue with rapid R&D plan for cancer drugs
Abbott aids biotech Epizyme in matching epigenetic drug with cancer patients
