Partnerships are a key component in the operating playbook of emerging and developing biotechnology companies. Although this year is shaping up as a very big one for deals, according to data from the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and biopharma consulting firm Campbell Alliance Group, they are not as lucrative for generating cash in the early stages as they once were.
Spinning out assets into a new corporate entity is a business strategy that is starting to gain traction once again. Theravance Inc., of South San Francisco, is the latest company to join several pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, including Abbott, Pfizer Inc. and Resverlogix Corp. to reveal that undertaking.
CHICAGO – It was certainly an interesting week for Canada's biotechnology industry, with two big pharmas using the BIO 2013 International Convention to make announcements about their investments in the nation's research and development.
A quick scan through the drug pipelines of many biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies will reveal a significant number of drugs under development that have received "orphan drug status." Yet, it wasn't all that long ago that orphan drugs were considered too small to devote valuable R&D resources. As a consequence they did not feature prominently on the product development radar screens of either pharma or biotech companies.
CHICAGO – It wasn't all that long ago that orphan drugs were considered too small to devote valuable R&D resources on. As a consequence, they did not feature prominently on the product development radar screens of pharma or biotech companies.
CHICAGO – The opening of the 2013 Biotechnology Industry Organization's (BIO) annual International Convention in Chicago not only marks a celebration of the event's 20th anniversary but also is the second return to the Windy City during the past three years. When BIO 2010 convened here at the beginning of May the biotechnology industry was still reeling from the unprecedented global economic perturbations that tanked the capital markets in 2009.
It takes a special kind of person to be able to help navigate a biotechnology company from its early stages, with all its attendant hopes and dreams into the reality of a truly therapeutic product organization, which generates revenue and builds value for its shareholders.
Like the number of biotech initial public offerings (IPOs) that are completed annually, another closely tracked statistic is the transactional value of the industry's mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and partnering deal flow. The number of deals concluded each year provides a measure of the vibrancy of the sector, its business strategies and technology aspirations.
The environment for raising private capital continues to be challenging and, as a result, there has been a dramatic slowdown in the number of deals that have successfully been concluded. Worldwide, according to BioWorld Snapshots, private biotech companies developing therapeutics raised $403.5M in VC dollars in the first quarter of 2013, down a whopping 48 percent from the $775 million raised in the same period last year.
Personalized medicine offers the opportunity to transform healthcare by improving health outcomes and has the potential to make healthcare more cost-effective.
