BIO Releases Investment and Deal Making Study Showing Resurgence in Therapeutic Licensing

Washington, DC (June 11, 2015) – Today, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) released a new report - Emerging Therapeutic Company Investment and Deal Trends – highlighting ten years (2005-2014) of biotechnology funding and deal making across five areas: venture capital, IPOs, follow-on public offerings, licensing, and acquisitions. The report also offers a first-time look at the degree of collaboration across the industry’s clinical pipeline.

“Accessing capital and forming strategic alliances is vital to today’s emerging biotechnology companies in their search for cures and treatments for patients suffering from devastating and life-threatening diseases,” said Cartier Esham, PhD, BIO’s Executive Vice President, Emerging Companies. “This data is helpful as we seek to improve our understanding of investor and deal making trends in order to inform future policy development activities intended to bolster the industry’s ability to develop the next generation of innovative medicines.”

Some of the key findings include:

• Venture Capital: A decade high in 2014 for US venture capital in Novel R&D lead programs. However, Series A investments went to fewer companies and with fewer dollars vs 2013. Additionally, some disease areas affecting large populations continue to see declines.
• IPOs: A decade high in 2014 for U.S. emerging company IPOs.
• Follow-On Offerings: A decade high in 2014 for U.S. emerging company follow-on offerings.
• Licensing: A decade high in 2014 for upfront payments in R&D-stage licensing deals.
• Acquisitions: R&D-stage acquisition volume is returning to levels not seen since 2008.
• Pipeline: Nearly 70% of the industry clinical pipeline is attributed to small emerging companies. A significant portion of the emerging company pipeline (43%) is partnered.

Furthermore, the report provides a more in-depth look at the major disease categories for drug R&D. This section showcases recent interest levels across the five investment and deal making activities with respect to each therapeutic area.

“Overall, the report shows that the state-of-the-industry is stronger than ever as we set the stage for next week’s BIO International Convention in Philadelphia,” said Dr. Esham. “We are optimistic that bringing the industry together for this event will further fuel growth of the global industry and encourage continued innovation so that we continue to see these trend lines go up over time.”

The 2015 BIO International Convention will showcase the many ways in which biotechnology continues to offer answers and hope for the world’s most pressing problems. The event features keynotes and session programming from leading policymakers, thought leaders, analysts, scientists and CEOs.

The free report - Emerging Therapeutic Company Investment and Deal Trends – can be accessed here. For more information on BIO Industry Analysis, please visit www.biotech-now.org/business-and-investments/inside-bio-ia.