Special purpose acquisition companies can bring biopharma firms to market faster than a traditional initial public offering, but frequent failures and increased scrutiny from the US Securities and Exchange Commission mean their heyday in the life sciences space is arguably over.

Public Company Edition: The stock market has been unkind to biotech firms but investors rewarded some drug developers for clinical trial successes, including Scholar Rock and Day One, which raised $205m and $172.5m, respectively. However, some SPAC deals and an IPO never got off the ground.