At the start of what many healthcare attorneys hope will be a busy year, public biotechs are raising cash, signaling a thawing public market and potentially fertile ground for IPOs. While a smattering of public fundraises doesn't directly translate into a wide-open IPO window, it does signal that investors are open to spending money on quality businesses. Mitch Bloom, global chair of Goodwin's Life Sciences practice, calls follow-ons as a "necessary condition" for IPOs to happen, rather than a driver of the IPO market. But in the backdrop is the potential of a looming government shutdown, and the fear that a geopolitical shift could dampen investor sentiment. Attorneys said that there's still reason to be cautious. "The flip side, the challenge, is it doesn't take a lot sometimes to derail that market," Bloom said. "People have to feel good about the market for these types of deals."
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