The Zhitong Finance App learned that TRex Bio Inc., an early-stage biotechnology company focusing on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, raised US$117 million through an IPO, and the issue price was set at the lower end of its promotion range.
According to a statement released Thursday, the company sold approximately 14 million shares at a price of $8.3 per share. According to previously submitted documents, the biotech company had previously given an offering range of $14 to $16 per share.
San Francisco-based tREx had a market capitalization of $384 million at the IPO price, a figure based on the number of outstanding shares listed in the file.
The company's investors include Eli Lilly, SV Health Investors, Pfizer Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovations, Junley Henderson Investments, Alexandria Venture Investments, Delos Capital, and Polaris Partners. According to previous documents, Eli Lilly has indicated that it intends to subscribe for shares in this IPO, but does not plan to hold more than 19.9% of its shares.
Total volume is hot, and returns are divided
TreX is expected to continue the hot year of listing in the US healthcare sector. According to compiled data, biotechnology and pharmaceutical IPOs have raised nearly $8 billion this year, almost six times the amount raised in the same period last year.
However, its pricing shows a direct projection of the “overall popularity and intense internal differentiation” pattern of biomedical IPOs in 2026: the sector's weighted average return during the year was about +55%, but almost all of the increase came from the “platform-based, multi-pipeline, and near-catalyst” targets.
Looking at the future market, platform-based, multi-pipeline (Parabilis, BillionToOne) achieved a 66% increase on the first day; Single Asset Single Indication (Electra) broke out on the first day. Investors set prices based on “the specific risk of the story” and no longer give a uniform premium to the entire sector.
Furthermore, the closer to the binary reading (three installments are imminent, listing applications have been submitted), the more sought after; key data generally has no premium or even been released for 18 months or more. It was in the second half of the year that “single-asset, first-phase clinical trials, and key data will have to wait until mid-2027” companies, such as TRex Bio, began targeted price segmentation. The market's demand for it is real but shallow. Eli Lilly's strategic endorsement is only enough to “launch” the deal, not enough to support the range premium.
The company plans to use this funding to advance its core drug candidate TRB-061, which is currently undergoing early clinical trials in patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis. According to the documents, the company is expected to release the top-line data for this treatment under development in the middle of next year. Additionally, the company plans to launch a phase 1 clinical trial of TRB-071, a drug under study to treat inflammatory bowel disease, in the first half of 2027.
In January of this year, tREx raised $50 million through the additional delivery of Series B preferred shares. New investors include Junli Henderson and Balyasny Asset Management.
TrEx CEO Johnston Erwin worked at Eli Lilly for 36 years before joining the company and previously headed Lilly New Ventures, Eli Lilly's in-house venture capital division.
According to previously submitted documents, the company had a net loss of $34.8 million in 2025, compared with a net loss of $3.1 million the year before.
The launch was led by J.P. Morgan, Evercore, Cantor Fitzgerald, Stifel Financial, and Wedbush PacGrow. The stock is expected to begin trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on Friday under the symbol (TRXB.US).