Initial public offerings are the lifeblood of the biotech industry. Stock listings give young companies access to the vast amount of cash necessary to advance their drugs through clinical development, and their venture backers a crucial opportunity to earn a return and form new biotechs.
At the start of the last decade, the IPO markets weren’t receptive to biotech companies. But by 2013, public investment was pouring into the industry, drawn by scientific advances and boosted by the newfound interest of a broader range of investors.
Ever since, biotechs and their backers have ridden a multi-year boom. Many young drugmakers, including those still years from human trials, have gone public at valuations never thought possible in the 2000s. Records have been made, and broken, several times over. Last year, a new high water mark was set during the deadliest pandemic in a century.
But a lucrative IPO doesn’t mean the company will thrive. Which biotechs create value over time, and which fail? What types of companies are generating the best returns? Who are their top investors? READ MORE
By Ben Fidler
Source: biopharmadive.com
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has signed a definitive agreement to buy all outstanding shares of Concert Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at $576m. Under the deal, the company will buy all shares of Concert common stock through a tender offer for $8.00 per share in cash upfront payment.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Novo Nordisk’s diabetes pill Rybelsus as an initial treatment to lower blood sugar levels, a label expansion that will allow it to compete more directly with other oral drugs from Merck & Co. and Eli Lilly.
Since making an ill-advised $63 billion buy of Monsanto in 2018, Bayer has faced heaps of pressure from investors that have called for the company to oust its leadership and to restructure. Now comes new pressure from a familiar source. Bluebell Capital Partners has bought an undisclosed stake in the company and is agitating for a breakup, sources told Reuters.
