Japan’s economy has remained stagnant for the last few decades, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has heralded the biotech industry as a strategic industry to attract global partners, which was also one of the expectations for the BioJapan 2023 conference held Oct. 10-12 in Yokohama, drawing attendees from more than 37 countries and was the first live biotech industry event that welcomed foreigners since the COVID-19 pandemic.
To get ahead in a tough market like the industry now finds itself, companies are advised to know themselves and their business well, better than they probably think they know themselves. A panel of investors at the BioFuture 2023 conference cautioned that CEOs must have a deep understanding of how their companies are differentiated from their competition in order to thrive.
With one program in the clinic and another not far behind, Generate Biomedicines Inc. raised $273 million in a series C financing to advance its generative biology platform. It is one of the largest venture capital (VC) rounds for a U.S. company in 2023. Funds will go toward advancing the Somerville, Mass.-based company’s 17 pipeline programs, including the filing of multiple IND applications in 2024.
“Sometimes the market gets ahead of the science,” said Dennis Purcell, founder of Aisling Capital, pointing to the way backers of genomics firms “went nuts” in the early 2000s. “I think we’re in a position today where the science is ahead of where the market is.” The remarks by venture capital (VC) expert Purcell came during a virtual salon hosted Aug. 30 by Demy-Colton and titled “VC Trends in Healthcare Investing: Current Pulse Check.” Panelists acknowledged the currently unfavorable financing environment but sounded upbeat about the industry’s path forward.
European biotech investor Medicxi announced the closure of its fourth fund at $400 million, a sum it said is “deliberately sized” for its asset-focused investment model.
Although biopharma investors pulled back in 2022 – largely a response to freely flowing funds the previous two years during COVID-19 surges – they are cautiously returning to the sector, as the industry has raised $32.8 billion in the first half of 2023, a 23.6% jump over the same period last year.
European biotechnology firms engaged in the discovery and development of new therapeutics collectively raised $1.9 billion in equity funding during the second quarter (Q2) of the year. Despite the ongoing lack of an IPO market – particularly for European firms – the total is roughly comparable with historic norms, absent the pandemic-related boom years of 2020 and 2021. It represents the fourth highest total raised during the last six years.
Vesalius Biocapital Partners Sàrl has called a first close on its fourth fund at €95 million (US$103 million) and now is targeting a total of €150 million, with new investors to be accepted on a "rolling closing" basis until the final close in 2024.
Med-tech has seen significant deal value growth during the first four months of 2023, despite a decline in the number of deals. In contrast, the value of mergers and acquisitions has experienced a notable downturn.
A collaboration between Aegis Ventures LLC and Northwell Holdings invested $12 million to launch New York-based Optain Inc., an artificial intelligence company created to enable early identification and disease prevention through retinal imaging. Retinal imaging is well known for identifying eye diseases including diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degermation and glaucoma, but it can also provide insight into cardiovascular and neurological conditions.
