(Reuters) -Maze Therapeutics became the latest drug developer to list in New York on Friday, with its shares rising nearly 1% in their debut, giving the company a valuation of $690.37 million.
The muted market reaction suggests investors caution persists as demand for new listings slowly recovers following a nearly three-year dry spell.
The company’s shares opened at $16.12 apiece, compared with the initial public offering price of $16.
Maze upsized its IPO to sell 8.75 million shares within the marketed range of $15 to $17 each to raise $140 million. It had initially planned to offer 7.8 million shares.
Maze is developing drugs to treat chronic kidney diseases, including two lead experimental candidates: MZE829, in a mid-stage study, and MZE782, in an early-stage study, with initial data expected in the second half of 2025.
Prior to the IPO, Maze had raised about $500 million from investors since its inception in 2018, including a $115 million series-D funding round last month, led jointly by Frazier Life Sciences and Deep Track Capital.
HEALTHCARE IPO PIPELINE
A slew of healthcare firms are waiting to test the IPO market. The list is led by Medline, which confidentially filed for an IPO that could value the medical supplies provider at up to $50 billion.
Drug developers Aardvark Therapeutics, Aurion Biotech, Sionna Therapeutics and Odyssey Therapeutics are also among the IPO hopefuls that have filed their paperwork in recent weeks.
Healthcare companies led IPO listings in 2024, making up 43% of volume and 26% of value for deals with proceeds over $50 million, according to an EY report.
Market response post-listing, however, has been tepid as weight-loss drug developers BioAge Labs and MBX Biosciences both currently trade well-below their IPO prices, according to data compiled by LSEG, despite surging in their market debuts.
(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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