Venture capital funding for biotechs remains aplenty even as listed companies’ stock prices drop. Biogen’s Papadopoulos, Fidelity’s Kaul and Gurnet’s and ex-Sanofi Viehbacher deliberate on whether there is a valuation disconnect and if this is the next "tulip mania."

The 14 biopharma firms that went public during the first half of the year generated a 25% average return, helped by an outlier whose value rose 585%. Excluding Belite Bio, the -18% return for the IPO class of 2022 is more representative of current market realities. 

Public Company Edition: Only nine drug developers went public in the US, raising $807m in the first quarter, versus 32 IPOs raising $5.2bn in Q1 of last year. Also, MoonLake closed its SPAC merger, Sanofi priced €650m in sustainability-linked bonds in €1.5bn note sale, and Kaleido will cease operations.

Public Company Edition: The last biopharma IPO in the US was on 17 February and none have been scheduled, so far, for March. Also, another SPAC merger is called off, Travere sells $275m worth of notes and Xeris secures $150m in new debt, while Ovid, Passage Bio and others are cutting jobs.