Biopharma's blue chip companies maintained their strong run this year, with the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical index recording a 3 percent jump in value in July, bringing its year-to date increase to 18 percent. Helping maintain the group's momentum have been strong, better-than-expected second-quarter financial results, particularly from Gilead Sciences Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., whose share values surged on the news. 

Biopharma's blue chip companies maintained their strong run this year, with the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical index recording a 3 percent jump in value in July, bringing its year-to date increase to 18 percent. Helping maintain the group's momentum have been strong, better-than-expected second-quarter financial results, particularly from Gilead Sciences Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., whose share values surged on the news. 

When thinking about the annual rankings of the leading U.S. life science clusters, it comes as no great surprise that the Greater Boston and the San Francisco Bay areas head the top 10 list. According to JLL's just-released U.S. Life Sciences Outlook report, those regions consistently attain their rankings because each has the key characteristics that comprise an ideal cluster – notably world-class academic institutions, leading research facilities, a vibrant venture capital community, a closely connected medical community and supportive local and state governments willing to invest heavily in facilities and infrastructure to nurture a thriving life sciences hub.

The biopharma sector has taken advantage of renewed interest from investors and welcoming financial markets, with 25 companies focused on developing new medicines successfully completing their IPOs on U.S., European and Australasia exchanges in the first half of the year – 20 percent more than the total who graduated to the public ranks this time last year. The amount raised to date is also almost twice as much generated from IPOs last year.

The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) revealed that at its recent BIO International Convention (BIO 2017) in San Diego a staggering 41,400 partnering meetings were held, which represented a 16 percent increase over the BIO 2016 numbers. The BIO data reveal that companies involved in the sector rely on collaborations in order to succeed. The costs of drug development simply do not allow a company to "go it alone" anymore.

The biopharma sector has taken advantage of renewed interest from investors and welcoming financial markets, with 25 companies focused on developing new medicines successfully completing their IPOs on U.S., European and Australasia exchanges in the first half of the year – 20 percent more than the total who graduated to the public ranks this time last year.

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.

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. 

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.