IPO Generate Biomedicines: shares of AI drug development platform become available

Preliminary trading in shares of Generate Biomedicines, which has created an AI platform for drug development, has begun on the Freedom client trading system. Generate Bio's lead drug candidate, GB-0895 for the treatment of severe asthma, is currently in late-stage trials. Later on February 27, the company's securities will appear on the Nasdaq under the ticker GENB. To participate, click on the ticker symbol GENB.

Generate Bio raised $400 mln in an IPO: it placed 25 mln shares at $16 per paper, which corresponds to the middle of the previously announced price range ($15-17). Based on the results of the IPO, the value of the entire company can be estimated at about $2 billion, Bloomberg notes.

The listing was organized by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Piper Sandler, Guggenheim Securities and Cantor.

In 2023, Generate Bio raised $273 million in a Series C funding round that included investors such as Amgen (Nvidia's venture capital arm), MAPS Capital (invested in BioNTech) and Pictet Alternative Advisors. The company also received $110 million in payments under cooperation agreements with Novartis and Amgen to jointly develop new drugs, Bloomberg recalls.

Generate Bio, founded in 2018 by venture capital fund Flagship Pioneering, is rethinking what it claims is drug creation. The company utilizes artificial intelligence that designs innovative protein drugs to treat a variety of diseases. The company is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts. The main stake in the company (57.7%) before the IPO belonged to the head of Flagship Nubar Afeyan (one of the founders of Moderna), according to Reuters and Bloomberg. Generate Bio positions itself as a next-generation biotech company combining machine learning, bioengineering and medicine. It is developing generative biology to create "revolutionary medicines," according to the company's website.

For its developments, Generate Bio uses the so-called Generate Platform, a full-cycle AI system developed by the company. According to Generate Bio, the platform itself designs, creates and tests new drugs, learning from its own data to find unique medical solutions. The company's main development to date is GB-0895, a drug for the treatment of severe asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). It is now in its third and final phase of trials. The company expects that the recruitment of volunteers to participate in the study will be completed by mid-2028, specifies Reuters. In addition, the company expects to receive data from the early stages of the study of its drug for COPD therapy already this year, notes Bloomberg.

Generate Bio's financial results reflect the company's rising costs, with a net loss of $223 million in 2025, up from $181 million in 2024, according to a prospectus Generate Bio filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early February.

At the offering price of $16 per share, the quotation growth potential is about 38%, Freedom Finance analyst Alem Bektemirov calculated. According to him, the main risks for the company are the lack of current revenue and dependence on successful completion of clinical development, uncertainty in the timing of bringing the drugs to market, regulatory barriers and the need to obtain FDA approval, as well as the potential need for additional capital, without which delays or curtailment of research programs are possible.

Generate Bio is seeking to go public at a time when the number of IPOs in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals is rising sharply, Bloomberg reports. According to the agency, since the beginning of the year, initial public offerings of companies such as Aktis Oncology and Veradermics have already brought in $1.4 billion. By comparison, the same period in 2025 brought in $915 million.

While AI is definitely playing an important role in the healthcare sector, the industry has yet to see a drug developed entirely by artificial intelligence gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Reuters writes, noting that investors will wait for clear evidence that the technology is actually qualitatively improving the drug creation process.

"The focus will be on valuation, as Generate Bio is positioning itself primarily as an AI drug discovery platform rather than a traditional pharma company," says IPOX Research analyst Lukas Muehlbauer(quoted by Reuters). Backing from venture capital fund Flagship Pioneering, as well as partnerships with Novartis and Amgen, gives the IPO a high degree of credibility with institutional investors, the expert adds.

"Recent examples show that biotech companies partnering with big pharma are often future takeover targets, promising investors significant premiums," Muehlbauer noted. For example, 2024 Vertex Pharmaceuticals absorbed its partner Alpine Immune Sciences for $4.9 billion, and Gilead Sciences bought out CymaBay Therapeutics for $4.3 billion after successful trials of the company's lead drugs.

Generate Bio is going public at a time of maximum need for capital to advance its cutting-edge programs, says Donovan Jones, an analyst specializing in IPOs. He adds that the collaboration with Novartis and Amgen opens up the potential for Generate Bio to receive payouts of up to $2.9 billion, which significantly increases Generate's investment appeal, Seeking Alpha writes.

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Freedom clients will be able to get access to Generate Biomedicines shares before the opening of the main exchange session. Trading will begin in early pre-market format 2-3 hours before the U.S. exchanges open (from 15:30-16:30 Astana time). To participate, click on ticker GENB.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor