ATLANTA, April 8, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Biotech companies generated $5 billion in the first quarter of 2013, just 3% less than the $5.15 billion raised in the first quarter last year. The heavy lifting for the period was carried out by public companies, which were responsible for 65% of the total, according to BioWorld Today, the daily biopharmaceutical news source.
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The $3.25 billion raised by these public companies was 33% higher than the $2.5 billion total raised in the same period of 2012. The amount included almost $3 billion in follow-on financings with public companies seizing the opportunity in a favorable investor climate to sell shares at or near their prevailing market value with little to no price discount.
It has been a great quarter for public biotech companies as the sector continued to remain hot with investors, according to Peter Winter, editor of BioWorld Insight, the analytical companion to BioWorld Today. Large biotech companies, with market caps greater than $1 billion, collectively saw their share prices jump by an average of 21.5% in the first quarter.
That performance almost doubled the Dow Jones Industrial average, which hit a new historical high and closed the quarter up 11.25%.
"A steady flow of positive news from elite biotech companies, including product approvals and strong financial reports, have kept investors engaged. The sector's momentum, which started early last year, shows no signs of slowing down," said Winter.
There is already some evidence that this is starting to happen with the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI), which includes a broad range of large and smaller companies, jumping 16% in the first quarter. The performance of NBI was also mirrored by the BioWorld Stock Report, which recorded an average share price change for the 231 public biotechnology companies tracked by the report at 15.6%.
Editor's note: This is an excerpt from today's top BioWorld story. Read the complete article here: https://www.bioworld.com/
BioWorld Today, and its analytical companion, BioWorld Insight, are the biopharmaceutical industry's most respected news sources and have been for more than two decades. All of that information is now leveraged in BioWorld Data, business intelligence for biopharmaceutical executives. Call for details (800) 477-6307.
Contact: Lynn Yoffee
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SOURCE BioWorld
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