In Defense Of Early Stage Biotech IPOs

There’s “just too many early stage companies going public”, or so goes one of the most common lamentations about the current state of the biotech market.

I’ve read a good deal of venting covering this theme, including comments about VCs pushing low quality junk into the market, or others saying insiders should be locked up until a biotech’s first drug gets approved by the FDA. Much of this venting misses the mark, and in my opinion throws the baby out with the bathwater.

An open and permissive IPO market, and the flow of capital that enables it, has been a huge positive for the sector and for advancing innovation, and is not what…