Biotech’s boom year
2018 saw record sums raised by companies floating on stock exchanges
2018 was a record year for biotechnology companies launching on global stock markets. For the first time, biotech initial public offerings (IPOs) raised over $8 billion (£6.2 billion), including RNA interference firm Moderna, which floated for $604 million in December, the largest IPO in history for a venture-backed US biotech company.