Global private companies have started out the year in record fashion, attracting more than $4.4 billion in the first quarter, 10 percent more than the $4 billion generated in the first quarter last year. In fact, it is also the highest amount raised in this period in the past decade.
The top 100 public biopharmaceutical companies ranked by market cap, excluding big pharma companies, continued to ramp up their research and development investments last year, according to an analysis conducted by BioWorld Insight.
It was a tough month for biopharmaceutical companies as a combination of clinical trial failures and drug pricing rhetoric ramping up in Washington kept investors sitting on their hands. As a result, the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index fell more than 6 percent in value, underperforming the generals markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing March just below water and the Nasdaq Composite index recording an almost 2 percent gain in the same period.
The top 100 public biopharmaceutical companies ranked by market cap, excluding big pharma companies, continued to ramp up their research and development investments last year, according to an analysis conducted by BioWorld Insight.
It was a tough month for biopharmaceutical companies as a combination of clinical trial failures and drug pricing rhetoric ramping up in Washington kept investors sitting on their hands. As a result, the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index fell more than 6 percent in value, underperforming the general markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing March just below water and the Nasdaq Composite index recording an almost 2 percent gain in the same period.
Innovation is on a roll with the sector establishing a record of 59 new molecular entities (NMEs) gaining U.S. approval last year, a 22 percent increase over the 46 medicines approved in 2017, and six more than the previous industry high-water mark for the number of NMEs approved in one year in the U.S. established back in 1996. In addition, for the first time ever, the FDA approved more orphan drugs than non-orphans and the number of big pharma approvals fell.
Innovation is on a roll with the sector establishing a record of 59 new molecular entities (NMEs) gaining U.S. approval last year, a 22 percent increase over the 46 medicines approved in 2017, and six more than the previous industry high-water mark for the number of NMEs approved in one year in the U.S. established back in 1996. In addition, for the first time ever, the FDA approved more orphan drugs than non-orphans and the number of big pharma approvals fell.
Just over two years after its formation, Vancouver, British Columbia-based Nervgen Pharma Corp., a regenerative medicine company, has joined the public ranks with a Tier 2 company listing on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V). Its IPO brought in CA$10 million (US$7.5 million) from the sale of 10 million shares priced at CA$1 each. The funds will help support the clinical development of its lead compound, NVG-291,indicated for the treatment of spinal cord injuries.
More than 100,000 Americans are currently living with sickle cell disease (SCD), which occurs in approximately one out of every 500 African-American births and one out of every 36,000 Hispanic-American births, according to estimates by the CDC. In 2017 and 2018, two new medicines to treat SCD were approved by the FDA – the first therapies to be marketed in almost two decades.
The announcement from Scott Gottlieb that he was resigning as FDA commissioner took the industry by surprise, and the news weighed heavily on biopharmaceutical equities, with the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical index falling almost 4 percent by market close Thursday. The drop in value was greater than that experienced in the general markets, with the Nasdaq Composite index and Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 2 and 1.3 percent, respectively, over the same three-day period.
