Big biotech swings: 2016 IPO AveXis pops 82%, 2018 IPO Menlo drops 77%

• Recent acquisitions and clinical trial stumbles show the high-risk, high-return nature of biotech IPOs.
Betting on a biotech buyout...
The billion-dollar biotech buyouts continue. News broke on Monday that Novartis agreed to buy gene therapy bitoech AveXis( AVXS) for $218 per share, or $8.7 billion.

AveXis went public in February 2016, by offering shares at $20 with a market cap of $458 million.