Drug developers are filing for initial public offerings at a brisk pace in October despite falling biotechnology stock values and the struggle to price first-time offerings attractively, which begs the question: Are biotech companies afraid that the IPO window is about to close?

The Boston/Cambridge area – the center of the US East Coast biotechnology galaxy – sucked another company into its orbit recently with Shire announcing that it will relocate 500 employees from Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania to Lexington, Massachusetts.

Overactive membrane attack complex (MAC) in retinal host tissue may underlie the development of the drusen fatty deposits characteristic of dry age-related macular degeneration and the leaky vasculature in the wet form of AMD, which can eventually blot out central vision. Hemera Biosciences Inc. is developing a single-injection gene therapy with the potential to rebalance the complement system in the retina and induce lifetime protection against disease progression for both wet and dry forms of AMD.

With time to exit an increasingly important metric for VCs, jump-starting new companies via in-licensing remains an important and oft-used strategy. Such derisking is one of the defining principles behind Imagen Biotech, a new ophthalmic play still operating in stealth mode. Imagen plans to pursue new leads for sight-threatening diseases, including dry age-related macular degeneration.