FOMO, detox and depth: Why this biotech rally may (finally) be real

Af­ter some halt­ing starts, false dawns and frag­ile ral­lies, the biotech mar­ket may fi­nal­ly be back.

No, re­al­ly.

In the last sev­er­al months, sev­er­al im­por­tant sig­nals have added up to what feels like a ral­ly, with more depth and cer­tain­ty than some of the short-lived upticks dur­ing the dol­drums of 2022 and 2023, when on­ly the in­dus­try’s most op­ti­mistic souls were will­ing to call it a come­back.

But now, pub­lic biotechs are re­leas­ing pos­i­tive da­ta and rais­ing mon­ey in fol­low-on of­fer­ings with ease. Bio­phar­mas have al­ready raised $13.7 bil­lion in sec­ondary rais­es in 2024, ac­cord­ing to Stifel’s Tim Opler. Biotech’s bench­mark in­dex, the $XBI, is up 56% from last year’s lows and has bro­ken the $100 mark, thanks to gains that go deep in­to the 120-com­pa­ny in­dex. And in the pri­vate mar­kets, crossover rounds are trick­ling back, and IPOs are show­ing signs of life.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.