With 23 U.S. biotechs going public on U.S. exchanges so far this year, compared to just 11 initial public offerings (IPOs) all of last year, the IPO window is starting to look more like an IPO bubble.
A few years after Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. regained the rights to its selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) lasofoxifene from Pfizer Inc., the company has dusted off the osteoporosis drug and found new parties interested in moving the molecule forward.
The IPO window has turned into a sliding glass door with biotechs seizing the opportunity to tap the public markets. According to BioWorld Snapshots, 19 biotechs have hit the U.S. markets since the beginning of the year. And there are quite a few others building their books hoping to price in the coming weeks.
Last year wasn't kind to pharmaceutical companies; loss of patent protection and a weaker dollar resulted in declining drug sales for seven out of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies.
The frothy initial public offering (IPO) market is helping companies raise capital in the public market. According to data from BioWorld Snapshots, 18 IPOs of drug companies this year raised an aggregate of more than $1.3 billion. (See BioWorld Today, July 2, 2013.)
What a difference a quarter makes. Three months ago, I was lamenting about how venture capital investing was off to a slow start in 2013. After tallying the totals for the second quarter, it looks like the first quarter was more of a pause than a trend.
Diabetic pumps work well for delivering insulin to reduce blood sugar levels, but insulin is only one half of the blood sugar regulation that the pancreas is responsible for. In healthy individuals, the organ also releases glucagon, a hormone responsible for signaling to the liver to act in the opposite direction, raising blood sugar levels.
SAN DIEGO – The initial public offering (IPO) window has been thrown wide open with many biotechs doing their best impression of a NASCAR driver quickly jumping through the window after a fiery crash.
SAN DIEGO – At a session at the recent Calbio meeting, biotech executives from multiple companies explained how they got their start-ups off the ground. Be it capital-efficient virtual biotechs, strategic partnerships, venture capital funding or initial public offerings (IPOs), the message was clear: There's more than one way to build a biotech.
Johnson & Johnson has jumped into the early stage development pool with both feet. With the opening of its California Innovation Center based in Menlo Park earlier this month, the New Brunswick, N.J.-based company has established regional innovation centers, incubators, and entrepreneurs in residence to get J&J closer to early stage products that might be licensed or acquired by the health-care giant.
