Money raised through biopharma financings so far in 2020 is double the amount raised within the same timeframe of 2019, partly due to two large financings completed in May by Sanofi SA, which is working on candidates to treat or prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
With Moderna Inc. leading the charge with its work on a COVID-19 vaccine, the market is feeling its oats as companies go after money sitting on the sidelines. One of the biggest financings to price this week is San Diego-based Turning Point Therapeutics Inc.’s underwritten public offering of common stock at $60 per share for gross proceeds expected at about $325 million.
Although public offerings slowed considerably in March as a result of the steepest stock market declines in history during that period, global biopharmaceutical companies managed to collectively generate just over $16 billion in the first quarter from a record number public and private transactions. Only the first quarter of 2018 saw more cash raised in the past decade, according to BioWorld data.
Infectious disease has been rough going for all comers the past few years, as companies have floundered. Appili Therapeutics Inc.’s CEO, Armand Balboni saw the troubles others encountered with the indication and also saw companies with thin pipelines struggle, but it hasn’t stopped him from forging on.
Investors in small and midsized biopharma companies were certainly rewarded in 2019, with group members in the BioWorld Drug Developers index on a tear. The price-weighted index returned 40% in value thanks to a steady flow of positive regulatory and clinical trial results from the companies throughout the year. However, investors may be less impressed with the start they have made this year, with the index dipping 8.4% in January.
BEIJING – China-based Shanghai Kindly Medical Instruments Co. Ltd. passed the listing hearing for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) this week, after submitting its application on June 10. The move means the med-tech firm is one step closer to going public on the main board.
At just under $30 billion raised through the third quarter, company financings have reached a three-year high in the ever-burgeoning industry of medical technology. The amount, according to data collected by BioWorld MedTech, compares with $25.76 billion for all of 2018, and $19.4 billion for all of 2017, indicating an increase of 15% and 53%, respectively.
Washington-based life sciences conglomerate Danaher Corp. has executed a long-anticipated spinout for its dental products business Envista Holdings Corp. via a $589 million IPO. Based in Brea, Calif., the company priced a bit below the middle of the anticipated share price range at $22 and sold 26.8 million shares, as it had planned.
Although investor sentiment continues to remain low and unlikely to change for the remainder of the year, it seems that fact has fallen on deaf ears of those companies looking to graduate to the public ranks. Already in the first few days of September, five biopharma companies have added themselves to the IPO runway, bringing the number of pending U.S. offerings to 12, according to BioWorld.
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