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What do macroeconomics, creativity and upfront payments have in common? They’re all featured in this week’s issue of BioWorld Insight!
I’m going to put on my long-discarded marketing hat for a minute and say I think we put together a really interesting issue of Insight this week. Of course as the Insight editor, I always think we’ve put together a really interesting issue . . . but just check this out:
- Our cover story (Macro Woes Could Impact Biotech Financing, M&A) looks at how the S&P downgrade, increased unemployment, decreased consumer spending and other macroeconomic issues could trickle down to biotech. Analysts see haunting similarities between the economy today and at the beginning of the 2008 recession, which could mean challenges for biotech equity and convertible debt financings, lower valuations, more attrition risk, and more opportunistic M&A.
- Another article (Upfront-Milestone Balance Shifting in Biotechs Favor) highlights Deloitte data showing that upfront payments in biotech licensing deals – which have been shrinking since 2000 – increased in the first half of 2011. On the M&A front, however, CVRs and earn-outs are on the rise.
- Our third article (New Use for Cash? Amgen Gives NPS Royalty Advance) looks at how economic pressures are stimulating some out-of-the-box biotech solutions, such as Array BioPharma Inc. and Genentech’s clever product-agnostic ChK-1 inhibitor licensing deal, and NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s decision to monetize a royalty stream with partner Amgen Inc. rather than with a traditional private equity group.
- Plus there’s weekly Insight features including a fundraising chart, breaking news summary, deal-making data and more!