Avalanche Biotechnologies, Inc., (AAVL), a California-based ophthalmic gene therapy company has raised just over $102 million in its IPO debut on the US NASDAQ (July 31st, 2014). The company launched 6 million shares at $17 per share however, on its first day of trading, the share price gained $10.99, a jump of 65%, to close at $27.09. Clearly, gene therapy is back in favour on the financial markets. The company describes itself as “a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel gene therapies to transform the lives of patients with sight-threatening ophthalmic diseases”.