Week of October 10, 2025

The Week at a Glance:

• China trade tensions worsen: Major indices fell an average of ~2.5% due to Trump’s proposed doubling of tariffs on Chinese goods to 100% in retaliation to China’s export controls on rare earth minerals

• European IPOs have no problem raising capital: Ottobock SE, a developer of prosthetics and other mobility technology, raised ~$820.0M in an IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The deal marks the second largest healthcare IPO this year, behind Asker’s $887.0M on the Oslo Exchange

  • The transaction highlights that companies listing on European exchanges have been able to raise substantial amounts of capital and that healthcare IPOs continue to be dominated by commercial MedTech YTD

• In Vivo is so in vogue: BMS announced it would acquire Orbital Therapeutics for $1.5B in cash, gaining Orbital’s in vivo CAR-T RNA platform and its lead candidate OTX-201 which reprograms T cells in vivo to express CD19 CAR. This deal joins a wave of in vivo CAR-T activity in 2025: AbbVie acquired Capstan Therapeutics, Gilead/Kite picked up Interius BioTherapeutics, and AstraZeneca acquired EsoBiotec to expand in vivo delivery capabilities

• DNB//Back Bay opened early NAHC registration for US healthcare investors: it’s not too early to save the date for our US-Nordic healthcare equity conference, the Nordic-American Healthcare Conference, March 25-26, 2026 in New York City, where we hear from companies like Adcendo, ALK-Abello, Novo Nordisk, Camurus, Lundbeck. Institutional investors can request a seat and request company meetings here.

Markets Overview

• The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and the Dow were down 2.4%, 2.5%, and 2.7%, respectively

  • Trump’s threat to double tariffs on China to 100% sparked market turmoil on Friday

The NYSE Pharma Index and the NBI were down 1.9% and 0.3%, respectively

Notable changes in share price included:

• Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AKRO): Shares rose 16.9% after the Company announced its acquisition by Novo Nordisk for up to $5.2B, including a $4.7B upfront consideration

• Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTGX): Shares surged 33.7% after reports surfaced suggesting that J&J is considering acquiring Protagonist in a transaction expected to exceed $5B

• Skye Bioscience (NASDAQ: SKYE): Shares fell 59.3% after the Company announced that its Phase 2a obesity trial failed to show a significant reduction in weight compared to placebo after 26 weeks of treatment

Sources: Pitchbook, Biomedtracker, and CapIQ

Equity Markets

IPO Markets:

One company completed an IPO last week:

• Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA raised ~$820.0M to advance its portfolio of prosthetics, orthotics, and mobility technologies, continuing the broader trend this year of commercial-stage MedTech companies pursuing public listings

Three companies filed an S-1 last week:

• Evommune intends to raise ~$100.0M to propel its clinical-stage pipeline for chronic inflammatory diseases, including Phase 2 programs EVO756 for atopic dermatitis, chronic spontaneous urticaria, chronic inducible urticaria and EVO301 for atopic dermatitis and ulcerative colitis

• BillionToOne intends to raise ~$100.0M as it scales its molecular diagnostics platform for prenatal and oncology applications, including its flagship Unity Screen for non-invasive prenatal testing and Northstar Select for comprehensive cancer genomic profiling

• Akston Biosciences intends to raise ~$20.0M to support development of antibody and protein therapies for companion animal health, including its lead candidate AKS-701d, an antibody for canine bladder cancer

Of 22 companies in the queue, only two (Evommune and BillionToOne) intend to raise more than $30.0M in proceeds

IPOs that have priced this year have delivered a median gain of 25.0%, with ~65% of newly public companies trading above their offer price

Follow-On Offering Markets:

There were eight follow-on equity offerings last week, totaling $526.5M, including:

• Apogee Therapeutics (NASDAQ: APGE) raised $300.0M to fund preclinical, clinical, and commercial readiness activities for its antibody programs in inflammatory and immunology diseases, including lead asset APG777 for atopic dermatitis and asthma

• Idorsia Pharmaceuticals (SIX: IDIA) raised $82.0M to extend its operating cash runway into 2028 and accelerate the commercial trajectory of insomnia medication QUVIVIQ (daridorexant), as well as support its pipeline development of lucerastat (Fabry disease) and daridorexant (pediatric insomnia)

• Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ESPR) raised $75.0M to fund commercialization of LDL-lowering medications NEXLETOL® (bempedoic acid) and NEXLIZET® (bempedoic acid + ezetimibe), as well as advance clinical development of additional pipeline candidates for primary sclerosing cholangitis and renal disease

PIPE/RDO Markets:

• There were 15 PIPE/RDO deals last week raising an aggregate $725.3M, including:

  • Jade Biosciences (NASDAQ: JBIO) raised a $135.0M PIPE led by RA Capital, Fairmount, Venrock, and other prominent life science investors to advance its early-stage pipeline of autoimmune targeting therapies

  • Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ: ZBIO) priced a $120.0M direct offering to fund the completion of their Phase 3 trial targeting IgG4-RD, along with additional programs within autoimmune diseases

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M & A

Venture Financing

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