Week of May 23, 2025

The Week at a Glance:

• Markets Observe Losses: The three major US indices ended the week down ~2.5%, driven primarily by tariff threats and global bond market concerns

• MFN Price Details Revealed: The HHS said the price target for pharmaceuticals under the “most favored nation” policy would be the lowest price in an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) country that has a per capita GDP of at least 60% of the US

  • The HHS wants pharma companies to adjust their prices for branded products that do not currently have generic or biosimilar competition

• Market Shows a Sign of Life: After 13 weeks of no major IPOs, the market finally ended its dry spell with Hinge Health’s oversubscribed $437.4M raise to fund the continued development of its virtual physical therapy and personalized pain care technology

• PD-1 x VEGF Space Remains Hot: Pfizer has joined the PD-1 x VEGF race by paying $1.3B upfront and $4.8B in milestones for ex-China rights to 3Sbio’s SSGJ-707

Markets Overview

• The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow ended the week down 2.6%, 2.5%, and 2.5%, respectively, driven by renewed tariff threats, the House passing a tax and spending bill, and a downgrade in the US credit rating 

  • Markets reacted negatively to Trump’s threats of a 25% tariff on iPhones and a 50% tariff on EU imports

  • The House narrowly passed a large tax and spending bill on Thursday, which will add roughly $4 trillion to the Federal debt

  • Moody’s downgraded the US credit rating from a perfect AAA rating to Aa1, pushing the 30-year Treasury yield to a near two-decade high of 5.1%

Healthcare indices finished the week flat and outperformed broader markets, underscoring the sectors defensive reputation in risk-off weeks this year

Notable changes in share price:

• Gyre Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GYRE): Shares fell 21.4% as the announcement of a follow-on priced at a 20% discount of the current market price overshadowed positive Phase 3 data in hepatitis B

• Merus (NASDAQ: MRUS): Stock price raised 31.6% after interim Phase 2 data on its antibody petosemtamab + Keytruda delivered a 79% one-year survival in head and neck cancer

Sources: Pitchbook, Biomedtracker, and CapIQ

Equity Markets

IPO Markets:

Hinge Health completed its initial public offering, raising an oversubscribed $437.4M, the second largest IPO of the year

• Funds will be used to continue development and commercialization of its software platform, which addresses musculoskeletal care, acute injury, chronic pain, and post-surgical rehabilitation

One company filed to go public last week:

• Caris Life Sciences intends to raise ~$100.0M, hoping to continue developing its artificial intelligence platform to provide ML-enhanced molecular profiling services for biopharmaceutical developers globally

 24 companies in total remain in the queue, of which only six intend to raise more than $30.0M in proceeds

• Of these, nine companies filed between Q4 2024 and today

Year-to-date, companies that have gone public in 2025 have delivered an average return of -3.2% and a median return of -4.7%

Source: CapIQ

Follow-On Offering Markets:

There were 11 follow-on offerings last week totaling $92.6M, with only one deal over $30.0M:

• EBR Systems, Inc. raised $35.8M in a follow-on equity offering to fund development of its implantable systems for wireless heart tissue stimulation
  
  
  

PIPE/RDO Markets:

• There were three PIPEs/RDOs the past week totaling $10.9M in proceeds

   

Licensing

M & A

Venture Financing

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