Shares of Bicara Therapeutics— a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to bringing transformative bifunctional therapies for patients with solid tumors—surged about 42% from its IPO price in its first week of trading on Nasdaq (BCAX) as investors on Wall Street gave the cancer drug developer a strong vote of confidence.

Bicara, which is run by Claire Mazumdar as CEO, will use the proceeds from the IPO to further develop ficerafusp alfa (previously called BCA101), a bifunctional antibody to treat head and neck cancer, both for monotherapy and in combination with U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved pembrolizumab marketed as Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug made by New Jersey-based Merck.

The company’s series C funding round in December secured $165 million from investors such as TPG and healthcare hedge fund Braidwell. That latest fundraise came nine months after Bicara had garnered $108 million in a series B funding round, co-led by Red Tree Venture Capital and RA Capital Management. Other backers include Indian tech billionaire Azim Premji’s private equity firm, Premji Invest and Eight Roads Ventures India.

Read this press article about the IPO.