Biotechnology startups are under pressure. After years of plentiful funding, few young drug companies are going public, and those that do are struggling to hold onto their value in a market downturn that’s forcing biotech executives and their venture backers to adjust.
One notable outlier is Belite Bio, an under-the-radar biotech incorporated in the Cayman Islands and controlled by a Taiwanese drug company. Since Belite raised $36 million via a small initial public offering in April, shares in the company have soared by almost 500% in value — the best performance of any biotech to go public in the U.S. over the past two years that still remains independent.
