IPO Edition: Sana leads the group with a $587.5m initial public offering, while Immunocore and Bolt follow with $200m-plus IPOs. The 10 newly public companies generated a 43.3% average return on 8 Feb.

Public Company Edition: 2020 started with two $200m-plus initial public offerings plus five health care-focused special purpose acquisition corporations IPOs. Also, a Pfizer initiative backs three public companies, Fate’s $432m offering led recent FOPOs and Biocon Biologics receives more investment. 

As China gears up to roll out millions of doses of its own vaccines to help fend off the coronavirus around the world, a scandal-ridden past continues to haunt the aspiring sector but is fading with improved regulation.

When a high-profile regulatory official in China was sentenced to 10 years in prison, at least five vaccine makers were found to have paid millions in bribes, although none were rigorously prosecuted. Three years later, as the country gears up for worldwide roll-out of its COVID-19 vaccines, many wonder if there are haunting glimmers from the past.