Five Biotech IPOs in October: Lycia Soars 67% While Iambic Sinks Below Its IPO Price

Five biotech companies have gone public in October despite a sluggish broader IPO market, and three of them are trading above their offer prices. Lycia Therapeutics (LYCA) led the group, closing Friday at $30 after pricing at $18, a gain of about 67%. Iambic Therapeutics (IAM) sits at the other end, about 11% below its $16 offer, with investors waiting on Anthropic's anticipated listing.

October biotech IPO scorecard

Latest prices are as of Friday's close.

The winners

Lycia Therapeutics. The company upsized its IPO and priced 17.64 million shares at $18, the top of its range, raising $317.5 million before the underwriters' option. The stock jumped about 67% on its first day, briefly more than doubling to an intraday high of $36.49 before settling at $30. Lycia develops IgE-targeted degraders for food allergy and other allergic diseases, and a degrader aimed at the thyroid autoantibody behind Graves' disease. It expects net proceeds of about $290.7 million to fund the clinical programs.

City Therapeutics. City priced its upsized IPO at the midpoint, raising $200 million at a market value of about $1 billion, and rose about 24% on its Oct. 16 debut. It is still 15% above its offer price. The company develops RNA interference drugs, led by CITY-FXI, a Factor XI therapy for thromboembolic diseases, and also targets Stargardt disease and anemia of chronic disease.

Retension Pharmaceuticals. Retension raised its offering from 3.3 million to 3.8 million shares amid strong demand, pricing at $12, the midpoint of its range, for $45 million. The stock is now up 27% from that price. Its lead drug, RTN-001, is a once-daily oral PDE-5 inhibitor for uncontrolled hypertension.

The weaker debuts

TRex Bio. TRex priced at $14, the bottom of its $14–$16 range, raising $116.7 million. It was the first biotech IPO to price below the midpoint since February 2025. The stock is down about 1% from its offer. Eli Lilly licensed a TRex program in 2023.

Iambic Therapeutics. The Nvidia-backed company uses AI models and automated chemistry to design small-molecule cancer drugs. It priced at the $16 midpoint, raised $150 million and closed its first day at $18.91, up 18%. It ran to $23.81 the next day, and by our calculation has since fallen about 40% to $14.26, leaving it roughly 11% below its offer price.

IPO outlook

None of the five companies is profitable, so the group remains a bet on clinical results. The wider market is soft: as of Oct. 22 the Renaissance IPO Index, which tracks newly listed companies, was up 6.0% for the year, against 13.0% for the S&P 500. Aspen Neuroscience and Bambusa Therapeutics have filed for IPOs, while Oura postponed its planned listing and SK Hynix reportedly scrapped the Solidigm IPO.

Source: Lycia Therapeutics prospectus (SEC Form 424B4, Oct. 22). This is informational, not a recommendation to buy or sell.