Is the much-talked-about pop in initial public offerings (IPOs) among biotech companies reaching the diagnostics segment? After the highly watched public debut of Foundation Medicine (Cambridge, Mass.), industry watchers are hopeful that the answer is yes, but an examination of the evidence points to the fact that diagnostics companies have not fared as well as their pharmaceutical and other life sciences counterparts when entering the public markets. More than three dozen biotech companies have filed for IPOs this year—a number experts say exceeds any other time in more than a decade. But according to life sciences financial services firm Burrill & Co. not all have been market successes. Of the 23 life sciences IPOs priced in the first half of the year, 10 launched below their target, with only two therapeutics companies priced above their target range. But from July through September, of the 16 IPOs that set pricing, only two completed their offerings below their target ranges and five priced above their targets, including Foundation Medicine. Foundation Medicine is the shining example of a diagnostics IPO success. The company raised about $106.2 million with its $18 per share IPO. In its first day of trading on Sept. 24 it […]