Public biotech markets staged a robust recovery from the late 2018 crash. Money flowed into the sector from both public and private sources, dropping only slightly from 2018 historic highs. Leading the big-ticket acquisitions, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s bid for Celgene overcame stock holders’ objections. Money continued to flow into the sector from China as one of the top five flotations and two of the top five VC fundings went to Chinese companies. Meanwhile, European markets were moribund, with no public listings for the first time in seven years.
IPOs
Company (lead underwriters) | Amount raised ($ millions) | Date completed | Change in stock price since offer (as of 3/29/2019) |
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Gossamer Bio (Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, SVB Leerink, Barclays Capital, Evercore ISI) | 317.4 | 7-Feb | 15% |
CStone Pharmaceuticals (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, China Merchants Securities) | 285 | 25-Feb | Not available |
Alector (Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Cowen, Barclays Capital) | 175.8 | 6-Feb | –5.30% |
Stealth BioTherapeutics (Jeffries, Evercore ISI, BMO Capital Markets, Nomura) | 78 | 14-Feb | 12.60% |
Harpoon Therapeutics (Citigroup, SVB Leerink, Wedbush Securities) | 75.6 | 7-Feb | –17.20% |
Venture capital
Company | Amount raised ($ millions) | Round number | Date completed |
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Verily Life Sciences | 1,000 | Not disclosed | 3-Jan |
Alvotech | 300 | Not disclosed | 22-Jan |
InnoCare Pharma | 160 | Not disclosed | 4-Jan |
Haihe Biopharma | 146.6 | B | 11-Feb |
Beam Therapeutics | 135 | B | 6-Mar |
Mergers and acquisitions
Target | Acquirer | Value ($ millions) | Date announced |
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Celgene | Bristol-Myers Squibb | 74,000 | 3-Jan |
Loxo Oncology | Eli Lilly | 6,120 | 7-Jan |
Spark Therapeutics | Roche | 4,800 | 25-Feb |
Clementia Pharmaceuticals | Ipsen Group | 1,263 | 25-Feb |
Immune Design | Merck | 300 | 21-Feb |
Licensing/collaboration
Researcher | Partner | Value ($ millions) | Deal description |
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Ablynx | Merck | 6,787 | Ablynx grants Merck rights to develop and commercialize an undisclosed number of Nanobodies discovered by Ablynx targeting undisclosed immune checkpoint modulators for cancer |
Eisai | Merck | 5,785 | Eisai partners with Merck to jointly develop and commercialize worldwide Eisai’s cancer drug Lenvima as monotherapy and in combination with Keytruda |
Innate Pharma | AstraZeneca | 5,567 | Innate Pharma grants AstraZeneca exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize monalizumab and options to IPH5201 and other preclinical programs in return for US, EU rights to commercialize moxetumomab |
Affimed | Roche | 5,046 | Affimed partners with the Genentech unit of Roche to develop and commercialize natural killer cell engager-based immunotherapeutics to treat cancer |
Regeneron | Sanofi | 4,077 | Sanofi and Regeneron partner to jointly develop and commercialize immuno-oncology candidates, including PD-1 inhibitor Libtayo, REGN5458 and REGN4018 |
- Source: BCIQ: BioCentury Online Intelligence
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