Thursday marked a significant turn for two drugmakers, Metsera Inc. and Maze Therapeutics Inc., who together hauled in a notable $415 million through their initial public offerings, signaling a robust month for the US health care industry's market debuts since the previous highlight in October. Metsera, a company that is carving out a space in the fight against obesity through the development of injectable and oral treatments, successfully raised $275 million by offering 15.3 million shares at $18 apiece, as Crain's New York reported.

With this pricing, the Financial District-based biotech firm's market value soars to approximately $1.85 billion – this figure takes into account the outstanding shares listed in its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the figures landing slightly above the originally proposed pricing range of $15 to $17 per share which demonstrates even at the low end the market's strong appetite for pharmaceutical innovators ushering in treatments for prevalent health concerns. Maze Therapeutics, focusing on medicines targeting kidney, heart, and metabolic diseases, also made a commendable move by pricing its upsized IPO at $16 a share, smack in the middle of its expected range and, in doing so, nabbed a cool $140 million by selling 8.75 million shares, as Bloomberg detailed, establishing a market valuation close to $700 million based on the outstanding stock in its filings.

The IPOs of Metsera and Maze contribute to what has been a bustling January for health care IPOs, trailing just behind Beta Bionics Inc.’s $204 million offering and the $126 million sale of American depositary shares by Ascentage Pharma Group International on January 23, solidifying the month as the busiest for US health care IPOs since October, an uptick witnessed in data compiled by Bloomberg. The success of these IPOs reflects not just on the companies themselves but also on their significant investors; ARCH Venture Partners, for instance, had a 28.1% stake in Metsera before its offering, and their stake will fall to 23.5% post-IPO, with other backers including Population Health Partners, Fidelity Investments, Mubadala Capital, and Google Ventures.

Banking on strength and potential Metsera marched to the offering table with a ready stash of $187.6 million in cash and equivalents and they had ample backing from financial heavyweights such as Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Evercore Inc., Guggenheim Securities, and Cantor Fitzgerald; the shares are set to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol MTSR, hoping to catch the eyes of investors looking for the next breakthrough in medical treatments. Maze's list of major shareholders before their offering includes the likes of Third Rock Ventures with a 20.1% stake and affiliates of ARCH Venture Partners who come in with an 11.8% shareholding according to their filings, the company itself coming to the table with $149.6 million worth of cash and equivalents, with JPMorgan Chase & Co., TD Cowen, Leerink Partners, and Guggenheim Securities spearheading the offering as it prepares to start trading on the Nasdaq Global Market with the ticker MAZE.