Key Takeaways
- Lycia Therapeutics shares jumped 47% in their Nasdaq debut after the company raised $317.5 million in an upsized IPO priced at $18 a share.
- The debut is more evidence that the biotech IPO window is open, with investors willing to pay up for early clinical data.
- Lycia’s case so far rests on a very small early readout: its lead drug cut IgE by 96% on average in six dosed participants.
- What to watch: the IPO banks can initiate coverage around mid-November, and data from both of Lycia’s Phase 1 trials is expected in 2027.
Lycia Therapeutics (LYCA) soared 47% today in its first day of trading on Nasdaq. It priced an IPO on Thursday night that it called “upsized” in its own release.
Investors wanted more shares than Lycia planned to sell, and then they paid well above the offer price for them.
What exactly happened
Lycia announced the pricing after Thursday’s close:
- 17.64 million shares at $18, the top of its $16 to $18 range
- Up from the 14.7 million shares it had planned to sell
- $317.5 million raised, and the banks have 30 days to buy up to 2.646 million more shares
- Jefferies, TD Cowen, Evercore ISI and Guggenheim Securities ran the books, and the deal is expected to close on Oct. 26
Earlier in the week, Lycia’s terms valued it at up to $937.7 million. After today’s jump it’s worth roughly $1.4 billion.
The window is open
Lycia isn’t a one-off. BioSpace counts 31 biotech IPOs so far this year, compared with eight in all of 2025, and four debuts already this month.
Lycia’s draw is LCA-0061, a drug designed to remove IgE, the antibody behind allergic reactions. Lycia argues that existing drugs like Xolair block IgE but don’t fully clear it. In the first group of its Phase 1 trial, a single dose cut IgE by 96% on average, and most participants were still more than 95% below their starting level 28 days later.
That group had only six people on the drug (and two on placebo).
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What’s next
Cash isn’t the problem. Lycia lost $30 million in the twelve months to June 30, and its filing estimates about $80 million to take LCA-0061 through Phase 2. This raise covers that several times over.
Around mid-November, the deal’s banks can start publishing research on the stock. The bigger events are data from both Phase 1 trials in 2027, including LCA-0321 in Graves’ disease, and the lock-up expiry, when insiders can start selling.
My take: Lycia got the most out of an open window. But at roughly $1.4 billion, the stock is already pricing in a lot of good news from six patients, so I’d wait for more data before buying.
Of course, if the food allergy patients in the next groups respond like the first six did, today’s price could look cheap.
So what is Lycia Therapeutics stock actually worth?
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