The sun has been shining on the biopharmaceutical sector of late as investors have returned to the sector big time. As a result, the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical index grew a healthy 6.6 percent in the second quarter, well ahead of the general markets, thanks to a late June spurt in valuations, causing the index to grow 5.8 percent last month. In contrast, the Nasdaq Composite index lost almost 1 percent in value in June and closed the quarter up 3.9 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 1.6 percent jump in value for the month and was up 3.3 percent for the quarter. Read More
Although global private biopharmaceutical companies kept up the first-quarter momentum by raising more than $1.8 billion in the second quarter, both deal volume and deal flow dipped. The total was approximately 15 percent less than the Q1 volume and, according to BioWorld data, 70 companies completed transactions in the period compared to 92 that were inked in the first quarter of this year. U.S. biotech companies were involved in 42 of the total transactions and collectively they raised approximately $980 million, compared to $1.4 billion from 46 deals that disclosed financial terms in the first quarter. Read More