What Global Financial Crisis? Capital Markets Back Biotechs

ATLANTA, Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Biopharmaceutical drugmakers have made up for a sluggish start to 2012 ‑ despite turbulence in the global capital markets ‑ to perform well in the 3Q, according to an analysis of financings and stock values by BioWorld.

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The average increase in the stock values of the 231 public biotech companies tracked by the BioWorld Stock Report is up 38 percent year-to-date.

"The 3Q was particularly hot for biotechs with their collective stock values soaring by an average of over 12 percent compared with a 4 percent increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a 6 percent increase in the NASDAQ Composite index," said BioWorld Insight Editor Peter Winter.

The welcoming capital markets allowed biotechs to take advantage of their increased stock values to conduct follow-on financing. In the 3Q more than $2.8 billion was raised through public offerings compared to only $507 million in the comparable period in 2011.

The same trend held true for private placements with public biotechs raising $1.97 billion in the 3Q of 2012 from these financing vehicles ‑ well over double the $821 million raised during 3Q 2011.

The increased public financing in the 3Q helped biotech companies collectively raise $5.91 billion, an amount that was 111 percent more than the $2.75 billion raised in the 3Q of 2011.

The sector is making up for a very sluggish start to the year with a total of $13.8 billion raised in the first three quarters. This now compares more favorably to the $16.1 billion raised in the same period of 2011, which, by any standards, was considered a very hot year for biotech financing.

"But on the venture capital front our analysis confirms that deal making for private biotech companies still remains extremely challenging," Winter said. "At the 3Q post of 2012 global private biotechs had raised $2.35 billion, 33 percent less than the $3.51 billion raised in the same period of 2011."

For full analysis of the 3Q performance, read the Oct. 8, 2012 cover story in BioWorld Insight.

BioWorld Today, and its analytical companion, BioWorld Insight, are the biopharmaceutical industry's most respected news sources for more than two decades. To subscribe, call (800) 477-6307 or, outside the U.S., (404) 262-5476 or visit www.bioworld.com.

CONTACT: Lynn Yoffee, Executive Editor, +1-404-262-5408
Web Site: http://www.bioworld.com

SOURCE BioWorld