DUBLIN – European biotechnology firms engaged in drug development scaled new heights in 2018, raising $7.715 billion in equity funding, a massive 37 percent increase in a like-for-like comparison with the 2017 total of $5.75 billion. Although the European sector, like its American counterpart, slowed significantly in the final quarter of the year, the momentum built up during the first three quarters enabled it to push up to a new high-water mark.