Week of December 19, 2025

The Week at a Glance:

• Encouraging macro data: Indices slightly lifted as CPI numbers came in below expectations at 2.7% and the November employment report showed consensus-beating but still weak 64,000 jobs added, easing pressure on the Fed and tilting interest rates lower

  Medline’s $6.3B IPO sets records: Medline, a vertically integrated medical supplies manufacturer, raised $6.3B in its Nasdaq IPO, marking the largest IPO globally this year. The deal underscores the trend of commercial medtech IPOs dominating in 2025 and improving investor demand and equity capital markets sentiment

  M&A activity remains at a post-Covid high: Q4 has seen the highest M&A deal value since COVID with commercial-stage acquisitions accounting for the lion’s share of activity. This is highlighted by BioMarin’s recent $4.8B acquisition of Amicus Therapeutics. The deal expands BioMarin’s rare-disease portfolio with a marketed gene therapy and reinforces the strategic premium placed on de-risked, revenue-generating assets

  Meet us in San Francisco: The DNB Carnegie | Back Bay healthcare team will be in San Francisco next month. If you would like to meet with our strategy and finance teams, please contact us to schedule a meeting

  US healthcare investors are now booking meetings at the NAHC: We’re pleased to present more than 26 high caliber US and Nordic biopharma, medtech, device and diagnostics companies at our annual healthcare event, The Nordic-American Healthcare Conference, March 25-26, 2026, New York City. Investor information and registration is now available on our website, here.

Markets Overview

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up 0.1% and 0.5% respectively, while the Dow was down 0.7% on the week

Biotech continues to outperform major indices, with the NBI keeping pace with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq this week, and is on track to close out a very strong year

The NYSE Pharma Index and NBI were up 1.3% and 0.5% respectively. Notable changes in share price included:

• Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY): Shares rose 3.7% after the company reported results from its weight-maintenance trial of orforglipron, an oral GLP-1, showing patients were able to maintain weight loss after discontinuing injectable incretins. The readout also helps validate the weight-loss maintenance segment, where many patients seek alternatives to currently available anti-obesity therapies

• Kyverna Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KYTX): Shares fell 40.5% despite the company reporting positive results from their Phase 2 trial in stiff person syndrome that exceeded investor expectations, likely due to investor concerns surrounding further dilution as the company plans to file for approval and commercialize the drug in 2026

Sources: Pitchbook, Biomedtracker, and CapIQ

Equity Markets

IPO Markets:

One company completed an IPO larger than ~$100M last week: 

• Medline Industries raised ~$6.3B to strengthen its financial position, mainly to de-lever after the 2021 PE-led LBO.  The bulk of the net IPO proceeds will be used to repay outstanding term loan debt, as well as provide liquidity to certain shareholders, and fund general corporate purposes. Medline is the 20th medtech company to publicly list this year. It is the largest IPO across all industries since EV maker Rivian’s public listing in 2021

 Three companies filed to publicly list last week:

• Aktis Oncology intends to raise ~$100M to advance its clinical and preclinical pipeline, including progressing its Phase 1b trial for lead candidate Ac-AKY-1189 targeting Nectin-4-expressing solid tumors and advancing Ac-AKY-2519 targeting B7-H3-expressing tumors toward IND filing in 2026

• Invea Therapeutics intends to raise ~$35M to advance its clinical and preclinical pipeline, which includes plans to initiate a Phase 2a trial for lead candidate INVA8001 in chronic inducible urticaria and progressing preclinical development of INVA8003 in broader immune-mediated inflammatory diseases

• MiniMed Group intends to raise an undisclosed amount to support its separation from Medtronic, including repaying intercompany debt owed to Medtronic and funding general corporate purposes as it operates independently as a diabetes management company focused on insulin delivery devices and continuous glucose monitors

Two companies in the IPO queue are targeting a raise over ~$30M:

12/19/2025
Aktis Oncology:  $100.0 Intended Raised

12/15/2025
Invea Therapeutics:  $35.0 Intended Raised

18 additional companies in the IPO queue are pursuing raises below $30M, with one company (MiniMed Group) not yet disclosing its intended raise amount 

• Healthcare IPOs that have priced this year have delivered a median gain of 36.8%, with ~76% of newly public companies trading above their offer price 

Follow-On Offering Markets:

There were five follow-on equity offerings last week raising $724.4M, including:

• Immunome (NASDAQ: IMNM) raised $400.4M to support commercialization readiness for varegacestat (Ph3 ongoing, positive readout on December 2025) in desmoid tumors, as well as clinical development for IM-1021 (Phase 1 ongoing) in ROR1-expressing solid tumors and IM-3050 (Phase 1 to commence in 2026) in FAP-positive solid tumors

• Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ: KOD) raised $184.0M to support late-stage clinical development for its retinal therapeutics portfolio, including ongoing Phase 3 development for tarcocimab in retinal vascular diseases, KSI-501 in retinal vascular diseases, and KSI-101 in macular edema secondary to inflammation

• Kyverna Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KYTX) raised $100.0M to support clinical development for its autoimmune cell therapy portfolio, including funding ongoing registrational trials for miv-cel in stiff person syndrome and generalized myasthenia gravis

• CAMP4 Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CAMP) raised $30.0M to support clinical development for its regulatory RNA-targeting therapeutics portfolio, including Phase 1 development of CMP- 001 in urea cycle disorders and preclinical development of CMP-002 in SYNGAP1-related disorders

PIPE/RDO Markets:

There was four PIPEs/RDOs last week raising $189.3M, including:

• Athira Pharma (NASDAQ:ATHA) raised $90.0M to fund clinical development and regulatory activities for lasofoxifene, a Phase 3 metastatic breast cancer candidate, and other pipeline projects including Phase 2-ready ATH-1105 for ALS

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