9
Apr
2015
Which Big Public Investors Are ‘Crossing Over’ Into the Private Arena?
Big-time money managers on Wall Street have all heard of biotech giants like Amgen, Biogen, Celgene, and Gilead Sciences. Those stocks are part of many diversified portfolios. But funds with really deep pockets, as one of my editors used to say, see the rest of biotech as “a bunch of little companies nobody has ever heard of.” Not anymore. As... Read More
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16
Mar
2015
The Top 20 Early-Stage Biotech Investors (And 2 Resuscitated By the Boom)
It takes brains, nerves, absurd self-confidence, and above all, patience, to invest in early-stage biotech companies. In a world fixated on quick and easy returns, these venture investors—from the 15 or 20 firms that survived the Great Recession—are strange birds. But now that boom days are here, some of them are making big bucks, and fast. Lately, I’ve been wondering:... Read More
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9
Mar
2015
2015 Power Rankings: Biotech Investment Banks
Which banks have the most power in biotech? You could just flip to the bottom of the press release on AbbVie’s $21 billion acquisition of Pharmacyclics last week. Morgan Stanley, Centerview Partners, and JP Morgan cashed in big-time on that megadeal. But there are a lot of banks making hay while the sun is shining in biotech, in their own... Read More
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23
Feb
2015
Who Is Poised To Go Public in 2015, and Who Isn’t?
This is the greatest bull market ever for biotech IPOs, which everyone reading this surely knows. If Dr. Seuss were around, he’d ask something like: “How long can it go? Nobody knows.” Renaissance Capital counted 102 healthcare IPOs last year, more than one-third of all the new stock offerings in the U.S. An infusion of more than $9 billion flowed to... Read More
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17
Feb
2015
Frazier, Versant Find an AFib Drug To Bet on at Laguna
Before becoming a venture capitalist, Jamie Topper was a cardiologist. He hasn’t had many chances over the past decade to invest in the field he knows best. Only the deepest pockets of Big Pharma could develop successful new heart drugs. But this time, Topper sees things differently at a little company called Laguna Pharmaceuticals.
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2
Feb
2015
The Merck Exodus: Where Are the Talented People Going?
One of the great talent migrations in pharmaceutical R&D history is going on right now. Merck, the drugmaker with a proud scientific tradition, has seen a huge wave of departures from its senior R&D ranks the past two years. The exodus has turned into a recruiting bonanza for a range of biotech startups, venture firms, consultancies, and competitors. The exits flung open... Read More
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2
Feb
2015
Implications of the Biotech Boom on the Business and Science of R&D
It is exciting to see the remarkable influx of capital into the biopharmaceutical industry over the past couple of years. More than just refilling depleted coffers, strategic investors are putting more money to work in excellent companies after a long period of relative scarcity. Capital can favorably change the risk profile of a biopharmaceutical company through its effective deployment in... Read More
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