Despite the market downturn in recent months, culminating with a December beat-down for biotech stocks, money poured into the industry last year, up 17% on 2017. RNA therapy company Moderna and cell therapy company Allogene Therapeutics launched blockbuster initial public offerings (IPOs); notably, three of 2018’s top five IPOs originated from China. Venture financing was twice levels of the previous year; Zymergen had the biggest private funding round ever for an industrial biotech. A flurry of takeover activity (>$265 billion) included Takeda’s $62 billion purchase of Shire, the acquisition of CAR-T cell pioneer Juno Therapeutics by Celgene, and Novartis’s acquisition of gene therapy developer AveXis.
IPOs
Company (lead underwriters) | Amount raised ($ millions) | Date completed | Change in stock price since offer (as of 12/31/2018) |
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Moderna (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BofA, Merrill Lynch, Piper Jaffray) | 604 | 6-Dec | –18 |
Innovent Biologics (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs) | 421 | 24-Oct | 40 |
Ascletis Pharma (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs) | 400 | 26-Jul | –56 |
Allogene Therapeutics (Goldman Sachs, Cowen) | 373 | 10-Oct | 11 |
WuXi AppTec | 354 | 7-May | –40 |
Venture capital
Company (lead investors) | Amount raised ($ millions) | Round number | Date completed |
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Moderna (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, BB Biotech, Julius Baer, others) | 500 | Beyond E | 1-Feb |
Samumed | 438 | Series A | 6-Aug |
Zymergen (Goldman Sachs, Hanwha Asset Management, Data Collective, others) | 400 | Series C | 13-Dec |
Relay Therapeutics (Foresite Capital Management, Perceptive Advisors, Tavistock Group, others) | 400 | Series C | 10-Dec |
Cerevel Therapeutics (Bain, Pfizer) | 350 | Seed | 23-Oct |
Mergers and acquisitions
Target | Acquirer | Value ($ millions) | Date announced |
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Shire | Takeda | 62,000 | 27-Mar |
Bioverativ | Sanofi | 11,600 | 22-Jan |
Juno Therapeutics | Celgene | 9,000 | 22-Jan |
AveXis | Novartis | 8,700 | 9-Apr |
Impact Biomedicines | Celgene | 7,000 | 8-Jan |
Licensing/collaboration
Researcher | Partner | Value ($ millions) | Deal description |
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Eisai | Merck | 5,785 | Joint development and commercialization of Eisai’s cancer drug Lenvima (lenvatinib mesylate) as monotherapy and in combination with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) |
Affimed | Roche/Genentech | 5,046 | Partnership to develop and commercialize NK cell engager-based immunotherapeutics to treat cancer |
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals | Johnson & Johnson | 3,700 | Arrowhead grants Janssen rights to an HBV candidate for its curative combination toolbox |
Nektar Therapeutics | Bristol-Myers Squibb | 3,650 | Partnership to develop and commercialize Nektar’s NKTR-214 in combination with BMS’s Opdivo (nivolumab) in select solid tumors |
Sangamo Therapeutics | Gilead | 3,150 | Partnership with Gilead’s Kite Pharma to use Sangamo’s zinc finger nuclease and adeno-associated virus technology to develop next-generation autologous and allogeneic cell therapies to treat cancer |
- Source: BCIQ BioCentury Online Intelligence
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