Covid-19 drives record boom in biotech IPOs – Wall Street Journal

Magda Wierzycka, co-founder of disruptive financial services company Sygnia, recently told Biznews that  Covid-19 is a catalyst for rethinking a lot of things. She noted that investors inside Africa  have very limited availability to anything healthcare-related. She says the sector is not just about the provision of healthcare. "It's prevention, it's devices, it's therapeutics, it's vaccines," she said. The size of the market is illustrated in this report from the Wall Street Journal, which says US-listed biotech companies have raised roughly $9.4 billion in initial public offerings so far this year. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index is up 12% so far in 2020, compared with the S&P 500's 4% rise. But investors who have spent years studying and buying shares of biotech companies say the market's enthusiasm for healthcare companies might be overdone. Either way, it is clear that there is a lot of growing to be done in this sector in South Africa. – Renee Moodie

During Covid-19 pandemic, biotech IPOs already surpass record

By Corrie Driebusch

So far this year, U.S.-listed biotech companies have raised roughly $9.4 billion in initial public offerings, already beating the $6.5 billion raised in all of 2018, the biggest year on record, according to Dealogic data going back to 1995.

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