By Atharva Singh and Arasu Kannagi Basil
Feb 5 (Reuters) - Drug developer Eikon Therapeutics, headed by Merck veteran Roger Perlmutter, was valued at about $860.3 million after its shares opened 5.3% below their offer price in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday.
The Millbrae, California-based company's shares opened at $17.05 apiece, compared with the $18 offer price. Eikon sold roughly 21.2 million shares in an upsized IPO at the top end of its marketed range of $16 to $18 to raise $381.2 million.
Eikon's
debut comes amid a busy start for biotech IPOs this year following a subdued 2025, when regulatory changes at U.S. health agencies and federal funding cuts dissuaded many drug developers from going pubic.
Cancer drug developer Aktis Oncology went public in New York last month, while hair-restoration drug developer Veradermics debuted on Wednesday. Drug developers SpyGlass Pharma and AgomAb Therapeutics are poised to go public in New York on Friday.
While the IPO market has started 2026 on a steady footing, investors continue to remain highly selective. Analysts say strong demand during roadshows and top-of-range pricing are no longer enough.
Eikon was founded in 2019 by Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Eric Betzig, along with Xavier Darzacq, Luke Lavis and Robert Tjian, and is developing a pipeline of experimental treatments for cancer.
"Eikon's main asset is in a class of drugs that stimulates the patient's own immune system but has historically struggled with systemic toxicity issues," said IPOX research associate Lukas Muehlbauer.
"However, Eikon aims to succeed by using biomarker-guided dosing to balance immune activation with tolerability, avoiding the uncontrolled inflammation that derailed previous trials.
Perlmutter, the former Merck research chief, is considered a major force behind the success of the drugmaker's blockbuster cancer treatment Keytruda.
Eikon's most advanced drug candidate, EIK1001, is being tested in combination with Merck's Keytruda in a mid-to-late stage trial for a form of skin cancer.
(Reporting by Atharva Singh and Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
