Laundry Room Chronicles: What Cumberland’s IPO Could Mean

I spent some time on the phone yesterday with Domain Associates partner Nicole Vitullo, whose firm just closed its eighth fund with $500 million.

After discussing why Domain lowered its target from an initial $700 million, we got to talking about the glut of VC-backed, late-stage pharma companies that are desperate for the public markets to accept them. Such companies and their investors traditionally have used IPOs as financial events rather than as liquidity events, which can help provide the final push through Phase III clinical trials and into FDA-approved commercialization.

But it had been more than a year since any drugmaker had gone public, until Cumberland Pharma did so last night. As Vitullo said, the offering was one that healthcare VCs were keeping close tabs on. Some video thoughts on what that offering could mean to the bigger picture, below: