If you thought that weak January would make the initial public offering (IPO) market die down, Friday may fly in the face of that rationale. Six IPOs hit the market, and three of them were biotechs. What stands out is that these emerging pharma deals came on the heels of a wildly successful biotech IPO on Thursday.

24/7 Wall St. would remind readers that six IPOs on one day is a very rare event. That is more active than close to 99% of trading days.

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: DRNA) was better than a hot IPO. It priced at $15.00, opened at close to $30, and ran all the way up to $46.00 at the close on Thursday. That was in a day, not a year. Shares have given back 7% to $42.80 after about 45 minutes of trading on Thursday, but who can blame the profit takers after what was seen on Thursday. This IPO was only 6 million shares, but it seems safe to assume that the 900,000 shares in the overallotment option were exercised.

Dicerna is focused on the discovery and development of innovative treatments for rare inherited diseases involving the liver and for cancers that are genetically defined. Jefferies, Leerink Swann and Stifel Nicolaus were the joint book-running managers; Robert W. Baird was co-lead manager for the offering.

Cara Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CARA) is targeting pain. The company sold 5 million shares at $11.00 per share. We had a prior range of $11.00 to $13.00. The syndicate included Stifel Nicolaus and Piper Jaffray as lead underwriters; Canaccord Genuity, Needham and Janney Montgomery Scott we co-managers.

Trevena Inc. (NASDAQ: TRVN) is a biotech focused on the discovery and development of G protein coupled receptor biased ligands. This IPO was 8.5 million shares at $7.00 per share. Barclays Capital and Jefferies were the joint book-running managers; Canaccord Genuity, JMP Securities and Needham & Co. were listed as co-managers.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: RARE) has priced some 5.76 million shares at $21.00 per share. This actually was above the $19.00 to $20.00 price range. J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are the book-runners, and Cowen and Co. and Canaccord Genuity were the co-managers. The premarket information was much less available here.

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