Even with Eli Lilly's backing, it struggles to command a premium: TRex Bio (TRXB.US) prices its IPO at the bottom of the $14 range.

TRex Bio Inc., an early-stage biotechnology company focused on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, raised $116.7 million in its IPO, pricing shares at the bottom of its marketed range. The company sold about 8.3 million shares at $14 apiece, according to a statement Thursday. The biotechnology company had marketed the shares for $14 to $16 each, a previous filing showed. At the IPO price, San Francisco-based TRex has a market value of $384 million, based on the number of shares outstanding listed in the filings. The company's investors include Eli Lilly & Co., SV Health Investors, Pfizer Inc. Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Janus Henderson Investors, Alexandria Venture Investments, Delos Capital and Polaris Partners. Lilly had indicated it was interested in buying shares in the IPO, without intending to let its stake exceed 19.9%, a previous filing showed. Hot Volume, Divergent Returns TRex is poised to extend a banner year for US health-care listings. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical IPOs have raised almost $8 billion this year, nearly six times the amount during the same period a year earlier, according to compiled data. But its pricing lays bare a 2026 biopharma IPO landscape defined by "a red-hot sector overall, with sharp internal divergence": the sector's year-to-date weighted average return is about +55%, yet nearly all of the gains come from "platform-type, multi-pipeline, near-catalyst" names. Looking at aftermarket performance, platform-type, multi-pipeline companies (Parabilis, BillionToOne) posted 66% first-day gains; single-asset, single-indication names (Electra) broke issue price on day one. Investors are pricing "the specific risks of the story" rather than granting the entire sector a uniform premium. Moreover, the closer a company is to a binary readout (Phase III imminent, marketing application already submitted), the more sought after it is; names whose key data won't come for more than 18 months generally command no premium or even break issue price. Companies like TRex Bio "single asset, Phase I clinical stage, key data not expected until mid-2027" are precisely the segment the market began to discount in the second half of the year. Demand for it is real but shallow, and Lilly's strategic backing is only enough to get the deal "out the door," not enough to support a premium within the range. The company plans to use the proceeds to advance its lead drug candidate TRB-061, which is currently in early-stage clinical trials in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. The company expects to report topline data for the investigational therapy in the middle of next year, the filings show. In addition, the company plans to start a Phase I trial of TRB-071, an investigational drug for inflammatory bowel disease, in the first half of 2027. In January, TRex raised $50 million through an additional closing of its Series B preferred stock, with new investors including Janus Henderson and Balyasny Asset Management. TRex Chief Executive Officer Johnston Erwin spent 36 years at Lilly before joining the company, and previously led Lilly New Ventures, the company's internal venture capital arm. The company reported a net loss of $34.8 million in 2025, compared with a net loss of $3.1 million the prior year, a previous filing showed. The offering was led by JPMorgan, Evercore, Cantor Fitzgerald, Stifel Financial and Wedbush PacGrow. The shares are expected to begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol (TRXB.US).