Of four initial public offerings (IPOs) last week, three were pharmaceutical firms and one was a software company that makes a product related to healthcare. Medicines and healthcare remain the strongest sectors for IPOs so far this year.

Castlight Health Inc. (NYSE: CSLT) was easily the most anticipated and the most successful of of the IPOs. The healthcare software provider sold 11.1 million class B shares at $16 a share, much higher than the original expected range of $9 to $11 and above a Tuesday revision that raised the range to $13 to $15 a share. Friday’s IPO raised net proceeds of around $161 million based on the IPO price. Shares closed at $39.80, up 148.75% from the IPO price. The shares reached as high as $41.95 a share early in the day.

Achaogen Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAO) priced its Wednesday IPO of 6 million shares at $12 a share, the low end of its expected range. The development stage drug company is working on antibiotics to treat drug-resistant infections. Shares jumped 19% on Wednesday, closing at $14.31 and have since added nearly an additional $2 a share to close at $16.16 on Friday. While that was down 1.1% from Thursday, the shares ended the week up nearly 35% from the IPO.

Dipexium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: DPRX) held its IPO on Thursday after pricing 2.75 million shares at $12 a share, again the low end of its expected range. Dipexium is a late-stage biopharma that is developing a treatment for mild infections of diabetic foot ulcers. Shares closed at $14.04 on the first day of trading, but lost more than 4.5% on Friday to close at $13.40.

Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: GLMD) priced its Thursday IPO at $13.50 a share for 2.84 million shares, slightly above the mid-point of its expected range of $12 to $14 a share. Galmed is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is developing a once-a-day oral therapy for treatment of liver diseases and cholesterol gallstones. Shares closed at $14.31 on Thursday and rose nearly 2.4% to close at $14.65 on Friday. The stock price peaked at $18.73 on Thursday.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.