Westphal's window

Buysiders expect Verastem Inc. will be a special case rather than a new measuring stick for future IPO candidates, a hypothesis that was confirmed by the experience of more advanced companies last week.

Last month, Verastem raised $55 million through the sale of 5.5 million shares at $10 in a bumped-up offering, giving it a post-money valuation of $202.3 million. Last week, underwriters UBS; Leerink; Lazard; Oppenheimer; and Rodman exercised their option to purchase the overallotment of 825,000 shares...