BlossomHill Therapeutics prices $150 million upsized IPO at $16 per share

BlossomHill Therapeutics upsized its initial public offering to $150 million, pricing 9.375 million shares at $16 apiece as demand for oncology-focused biotechs extends a record 2026 listing wave.

The San Diego-based company, led by founder J. Jean Cui, a drug developer with three FDA-approved medicines to her name, raised the offering from an earlier plan to sell 7.8 million shares at $15 to $17 each, according to the Aug. 6 announcement. The upsizing lifted gross proceeds from the roughly $125 million originally targeted, a sign of strong institutional demand for the company's small-molecule oncology pipeline.

Proceeds will fund BH-30643, a mutant-selective EGFR inhibitor for non-small cell lung cancer, through its Phase 1/2 study, and BH-30236, a CLK inhibitor for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Underwriters hold a 30-day option to buy 1.4 million additional shares at the offering price, which could push total proceeds to about $172 million.

BlossomHill joins 18 biotechs that went public in the first half of 2026, more than double last year's total of eight, making this the largest listing class since 2021. The offering closes Aug. 10, with shares trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under "BLSM" starting Aug. 7.

J.P. Morgan, Leerink Partners and Guggenheim Securities are leading the offering as book-runners, with LifeSci Capital and H.C. Wainwright & Co. acting as joint book-runners.

The company's lead candidate, BH-30643, targets the C797S resistance population that emerges after third-generation EGFR inhibitor treatment in non-small cell lung cancer. Its second clinical program, BH-30236, is being developed for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia and higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome. A preclinical pan-KRAS inhibitor, BH-501284, rounds out the pipeline.

The upsized pricing reflects a broader rebound in biotech listings after a sluggish 2025, when just eight companies went public. The 2026 class is on track to be the largest since 2021, when more than 100 biotechs entered the public markets during the pandemic-driven investment surge. Fellow California drugmakers Latigo Biotherapeutics and Braveheart Bio are also preparing Nasdaq debuts this week, with Latigo targeting $288 million for a non-opioid pain candidate and Braveheart seeking $300 million for a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy therapy.

For BlossomHill, the capital raise extends a runway that will be tested by the Phase 1/2 readout for BH-30643 in EGFR-mutated lung cancer, a crowded field where rivals including Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca already market third-generation inhibitors. The company's chemistry-driven approach, built around macrocyclic small molecules designed to cross the blood-brain barrier, is the differentiator Cui is betting on as investors weigh pipeline risk against the size of the addressable market.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.