Fast on the heels of two big biotech IPOs at the end of last week, Renaissance Capital is tracking 9 more life sciences companies looking to go public this week in a fresh burst of new offerings that could threaten to glut the market. Altogether, the developers have set their sights on raising roughly $500 million in a matter of days.
Among the IPO hopefuls this week is Eleven Biotherapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based startup backed by Third Rock Ventures that's developing new protein therapies. Revance Therapeutics, meanwhile, is trying to raise about $75 million for its work on a next-gen version of Botox. And the gene therapy company uniQure is in the mix, joining a small group of European biotechs which have come to the U.S. for an IPO.
The rest of the field includes Argos Therapeutics, Auspex Pharmaceuticals, diagnostics company Biocept, Egalt, Genocea and NephroGenex.
Dicerna ($DRNA) and Ultragenyx ($RARE) both broke out of the IPO pack last week, soaring in their Wall Street debuts and offering up clear signs that the big IPO frenzy of 2013 did not end with the year. The overhang of IPOs that began building up in the fourth quarter of last year has spurred fears that the onslaught could be far more than the investing community can absorb. But after watching dozens of companies make the leap last year, biotechs show no sign of backing off now.
Don't be surprised if you hear the 'b' word again this week. Some analysts see the sudden gold rush mentality as a sign of a bubble that has to burst one day.
- here's the summary from Renaissance