Allogene launched a $324m IPO to fund development of its allogeneic CAR-T pipeline, bringing its 2018 fundraising total to $744m. Also, GW Pharma's $345m offering tops recent follow-ons.

Scrip caught up with several companies during the recent Cell and Gene Meeting on the Mesa, sponsored by the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine.

With a well characterized genetic driver, a clear marker to show whether it's working, and available treatments that carry high annual costs, hemophilia may be a good testing ground for commercializing gene therapy, but payers still have to work out how to reimburse the one-time medicines.

With the first few cell and gene therapies launched in the US, the challenge of pricing and reimbursement – and the opportunity to set the standards in this area – was a repeated theme at the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine's Cell and Gene Meeting on the Mesa.

While Forbion's new €360m venture capital fund and other investors have emerged to fund private and public companies, BARDA and other US agencies have been active supporters of biopharma firms in recent weeks. Also, KSQ grabs $80m in VC cash and VelosBios brings in $50m.

The average return for the 54 drug developers that went public in the US during first three quarters of 2018 was 13.6% as of Oct. 1 versus 16.9% as of Aug. 31 for the 47 biopharma firms that launched IPOs during the first eight months of this year. September had seven new offerings after just two in August.