Eikon Therapeutics, a well-known biotech startup with big-name backers, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $381 million by selling shares to the public for the first time. The California-based company sold over 21 million shares at $18 each, which is more than it originally planned to sell. The shares will start trading on Thursday under the symbol “EIKN.” This news comes during a busy week for biotech companies entering the stock market. Just yesterday, Veradermics, a company developing treatments for hair loss, raised $256 million. Agomab Therapeutics, which focuses on inflammatory diseases, and Spyglass Pharma, which works on eye treatments, are expected to follow suit on Thursday. This level of activity is unusual in recent years. Since reaching a peak in 2021, it has been challenging for biotech companies to successfully launch initial public offerings (IPOs). There were about two dozen IPOs in each of the following three years and only 11 in 2025. However, there are signs that the pace of new stock offerings could pick up in 2026, driven by the success of last year’s IPOs and the readiness of more experienced companies. Last month, Aktis Oncology raised $318 million, including a $100 million investment from Eli Lilly, in one of the largest biotech IPOs in the last two years. Since then, nine other companies have announced plans to go public. More companies may follow, as there is a backlog of mature startups that are still privately held. Eikon Therapeutics is a good example of this trend. The company is led by former executives from Merck & Co., including Roger Perlmutter, the former head of research, and Roy Baynes, the former leader of clinical development. Before going public, Eikon raised nearly $1.2 billion. The company was initially built around a Nobel Prize-winning technology called “super-resolution microscopy,” which helps researchers study how proteins move within cells. However, it later licensed drugs from other companies that became the focus of its research. One of these drugs, called EIK-1001, is now being tested in advanced clinical trials for melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Eikon is also developing a pair of drugs called “PARP” inhibitors, which are designed to be more precise than similar drugs already on the market. Additionally, the company is working on a drug that targets an enzyme called WRN helicase, which is linked to certain types of cancer with many DNA mutations. Eikon has more than a dozen potential drug candidates in development for various cancers and neurological conditions.