Upstream enters IPO queue; Nuvalent follow-on balloons to $575M

Last week’s trio of biotech IPOs signaled that demand continues to exist for a certain class of companies: those with mid-to-late-stage assets that have generated clinical data, and experienced management teams to guide them along.

Joining the queue this week was Upstream Bio Inc., which filed late Wednesday to list on NASDAQ. The biotech ticks some key boxes: Its lead asset, verekitug, is in Phase II testing for severe asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps; it has generated proof-of-concept data in a Phase Ib study; and its chairman and its CEO have held key roles at biotechs as they steered toward billion-dollar acquisitions...