Emerging Company Profile: Pioneering the development of a new class of living medicines that work in the microbiome, Synlogic completed a reverse merger earlier this year that took the company public.

IPO launches in the US hit a wall in August, but several biopharma firms recently entered the queue, adding new opportunities for investors to chase the industry's outperforming returns.

A review of biopharma start-up dealmaking and financing activity from April through June 2017, based on data from Strategic Transactions, showed that fundraising activity more than doubled compared with the first quarter.

Iterum Therapeutics and Genoa Pharmaceuticals topped the list of biopharmaceutical start-up firms closing new venture capital rounds in May with $65m and $62m, respectively, to advance drug candidates for bacterial infections and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.