CG Oncology remains the biggest IPO winner this year, having raised $380m in January. Image credit: Shutterstock / JHVEPhoto.

Bicara Therapeutics has raised $362m in gross proceeds from its initial public offering (IPO) as it entered the stock market.

The US company outlaid 20,125,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $18 per share, including a further 2,625,000 shares issued for underwriters, as per a 16 September press release, offering a sign of positivity to an undulating biotech listing sector.

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Bicara hit the Nasdaq trading boards under the ticker ‘BCAX’ on Friday last week, where its shares opened at $26.25 – representing a 31% premium on the offer price. The stocks have dropped very slightly, settling at $25.41 at close on 16 September.

Bicara twice upsized its IPO in recent weeks to bring in funds for a pivotal Phase II/III clinical trial of lead asset ficerafusp alfa in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Two other drug developers, Zenas BioPharma and MBX Biosciences, also debuted on Nasdaq last week, marking a flurry of activity in an otherwise quiet biotech IPO landscape. Autoimmune specialist Zenas raised $225m while MBX, which is investigating candidates in endocrine and metabolic indications, raised $163m.

The US is likely heading for Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, acting as a catalyst for several emerging companies to list their shares.

The number of biotechs going public has steadily decreased after a boom in 2020 and 2021, although 2024 has seen an uptick in activity.

The biotech IPO market hasn’t been easy on startups this year though as investors remain cautious on the chances of above-market returns. Shares in Alumis and Artiva Biotherapeutics, which both went public in the US in recent months, have been trading below their IPO price. Alumis set the price of its IPO at the lower end of its price range – raising $250m against an original target of $274m.

Radiopharma specialist Telix Pharmaceuticals went one stage further, pulling the plug completely on a proposed Nasdaq listing in June. The company said at the time its IPO U-turn was due to “current market conditions”.

Bicara’s debut is an inflection point in a relatively dormant IPO summer and places it at the higher end of this year’s class of biotech public listings. CG Oncology remains at the top of the IPO league, having raised $380m in January.

The sharp global stock market dip in August this year also added jeopardy to the IPO environment, with GlobalData business fundamentals senior analyst Ophelia Chan telling Pharmaceutical Technology at the time that it would “create a challenging environment for biotech companies planning IPOs later this year”.