Three U.S. federal government agencies announced that their focus on consolidation in health care markets may soon ramp up, given concerns that consolidation may be affecting the cost and quality of patient care.
Equity investment in European biotechnology firms engaged in therapeutic discovery and development continued its downward slide during the third quarter. The total for the period, $1.106 billion, is down 39% on the second quarter of this year and down 41% on Q3 2021. The ongoing weakness of the public markets is the main driver of the trend. In Q3, listed firms raised little more than half of what they managed in Q1 of this year, while the IPO window remains firmly closed. At present, the sector is bumping along at investment levels last seen about five years ago.
Quoted European tech investor Gimv is setting up an independent life sciences arm and said it will increase both the size of its investments and the number of companies it backs.
U.S. private equity group Carlyle is extending its reach into biotech financing through the acquisition of London-based venture capital firm Abingworth, with which it is forming Launch Therapeutics, an operating company that will fund and manage late-stage clinical development of programs sourced from pharma and biotech companies. The move will enable further scaling of the clinical co-development model Abingworth first devised in 2009.
DUBLIN – Versant Ventures was one of a handful of investors to profit from Passage Bio Inc.’s recent upsized IPO. The Philadelphia-based gene therapy firm planned to raise $125 million initially but eventually hauled in $216 million by issuing 12 million shares, which it priced at $18 per share on Feb. 27. The IPO price valued Versant’s holding at $89 million. As well as participating in the IPO – the actual amount involved has not been disclosed – it invested $35 million across three private rounds, between September 2018 and August 2019, according to SEC filings.
SAN FRANCISCO – Pacing the stage at this year's China Showcase Saturday, Chinabio CEO Greg Scott sounded a touch disappointed. Last year lacked the kind of record-breaking stats he likes to punctuate with iconic explosions, a common image in his widely valued China health care talks. "Simply stated, business is continuing as normal," he said.
BEIJING – Biologics developer Hisun Bioray Bio-pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned drugmaker Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., received ¥3.8 billion (US$540 million) from Hong Kong investor PAG for a 58% stake in the company.
DUBLIN – Biontech SE closed a mammoth $325 million series B round to fund expansion of its clinical pipeline and to continue its ongoing investments in several different areas of manufacturing. The scale of the deal is of historic proportions – it is the biggest private equity investment in any comparable European biotechnology firm. It just edges ahead of Oxford, U.K.-based Immunocore Ltd.'s $320 million investment in 2015.