Despite optimism for more biotechnology listings on European stock markets (Nature Biotechnol. 17, 211, 1999), there was only one such initial public offering (IPO) in the first quarter: combinatorial concern, MorphoSys (Munich, Germany), listed on the Neuer Markt on March 9, raising E25.8 million (US$27.9 million). MorphoSys CFO Dave Lemus thinks the Neuer Markt is currently better for raising money in biotechnology than either the Nouveau Marché (Paris) or Easdaq (Brussels). Indeed, the drug delivery firm BioVector Therapeutics (Labege, France) had planned an IPO in February on the Nouveau Marché but postponed the listing for three to six months. "For the time being, there is no window" for biotechnology IPOs on the Nouveau Marché, says Emile Loria, BioVector's CEO. And Phytera (Worcester, MA), a US firm researching metabolic pathways in plants and microbes, postponed its Easdaq IPO in February. However, George Morris, analyst at Quartz Capital (London), puts this particular case down to the difficulties a US company has when trying to list in Europe (such as differences in the banking systems) rather than a problem with Easdaq itself.