Biotech gets its Punxsutawney Phil IPO

It’s been a long winter for biotech IPOs, what with that December downturn and the small matter of a government shutdown that decimated the SEC. Now, amid the thaw, there’s a handful of green shoots, led by a company with a new idea for an old problem and eyes on a multibillion-dollar valuation.

Alector, expected to price its IPO later this week, is poised as the bellwether for biotech’s quarter interrupted. The company is developing therapies it believes can do for neurodegenerative disease what immunotherapy did for cancer, using the body’s natural defenses to fight the advance of Alzheimer’s disease.

The company’s success or failure will help the entire industry wrap its head around how the market feels about biotech in 2019. Last year, a near-record number of companies went public, but a months-long downturn left the average IPO down more than 20 percent by Christmas. No one knows how this year will go, and Alector is poised to provide the first clues.

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