Preclinical biotech companies are having an IPO bonanza. What’s the draw for investors?

Investors are infatuated lately with preclinical biotech companies going public.

Six of these very young biotechs have managed successful initial public offerings this year, despite not yet securing regulators’ permission to start human clinical trials. By comparison, one preclinical biotech was able to go public last year.

Collectively, the six preclinical biotech companies raised nearly $800 million in their public market debuts; one, Rubius Therapeutics, raised $240 million is already valued at more than $2.1 billion. As of Monday, four of the six stocks were trading higher than their IPO price. The average return for all them: 31 percent.

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