Examples of biotech IPOs that quickly went public

Early in corporate development

Similarly, median proceeds per IPO nearly doubled from $83M in 2019 to $178M in 2020. Thus far 2021 appears to be following the same pattern. Many try to jump this boat and benefit from the biotech IPO window, some surprisingly early in their corporate development. So did LAVA Therapeutics. Founded in 2016 in Utrecht, LAVA Therapeutics reached IPO within 5 years of spinning off from VUMC, following $16M in Series A investments from Gilde Healthcare and Versant Ventures in 2018 and $83M in Series C investments from Novo Ventures and Sanofi in 2020. LAVA Therapeutics is developing a platform of novel bispecific antibodies which engage and activate gamma-delta T-cells for use in immuno-oncology, and their lead program has reached Phase 1 clinical trials.

Rapid IPOs

With the recent IPO of LAVA Therapeutics (Nasdaq: LTVX) in March, we wondered if this was the fastest biotech IPO in The Netherlands, or maybe even Europe? We did some digging and found that while a number of other biotech’s have IPOed in a matter of months, these tend to occur from spinning off existing business, via reverse mergers or following acquisition of assets in late development stages. Two ‘original’ companies – ProQR Therapeutics and Trinity Biotech – stand out among these rapid IPOs.

The fastest Dutch biotech IPO: ProQr

Leiden-based ProQR Therapeutics (Nasdaq: PRQR) IPOed a rapid 2 years, 7 months after their founding February 2012 and just following a €42M Series A round (Sofinnova Partners) in 2014. ProQR Therapeutics researches and develops RNA therapies for the treatment genetic rare diseases affecting the retina, and has a pipeline of products ranging from preclinical through Phase 2/3 clinical trials.

The fastest European biotech IPO: Trinity Biotech

On a European level, Trinity Biotech (Nasdaq: TRIB, headquartered in Bray, Ireland) was founded in 1992 and listed a short 5 months later. Specializing in the development, manufacture and marketing of diagnostic test kits, Trinity Biotech has grown through an acquisition-led strategy to offer a portfolio of over 400 products.

Uptick in biotech IPOs

The uptick in biotech IPOs is likely to continue through 2021. While the rapid time to IPO of these three companies is certainly not typical, these cases are demonstrative of how quickly investment processes can move, given the right team, right market and right technology.

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