If you didn’t know already, my story today provided a sense of the troubles facing the biotechnology industry theses days. But I didn’t give you the complete picture, which is very ugly.
Here is a rundown of the industry’s recent financial performance courtesy of Bio, the national industry association:
- 120 publicly traded biotech companies (30 percent) are now trading with less than six months of cash on hand. This represents a jump of 90 percent more companies that have less than six months cash on hand versus 2007.
- 180 publicly traded biotech companies (45 percent) have less than one year of cash remaining, which is two-thirds more than in 2007.
- Only 10 percent of the 370 publicly traded U.S. biotech companies have positive income.
- By comparison with 2007, funds raised from IPOs in 2008 fell 97 percent, and follow-on/secondary offerings fell 56 percent. Total capital raised by the industry in 2008 fell by 55 percent versus 2007.
- In 2006, 32 life sciences companies raised $1.7 billion through IPOs. In
2007, 41 raised $1.9 billion. In 2008 there was only one IPO in the country; it raised $5.8 million.
- There were 19 biotech IPOs withdrawn in 2008, and six biotech bankruptcies in 2008.
- Stock Performance in 2008:
All U.S. biotech stock performance: Mean -49 percent, Median -61 percent ;
Small US biotech stock performance: Mean -51 percent, Median -64 percent
Large U.S. biotech stock performance: Mean -26 percent, Median -30 percent (Large is defined as greater than a $1 billion market cap on Jan. 1, 2008)
87 percent of U.S. biotech stocks have lost value in 2008 - More than 80 companies laid off more than 5,000 employees in 2008, and 34
biotech companies laid-off 10 percent or more of their workforce since September,
2008.
- From September 2008 to January 2009, more than 24 companies shelved promising drug development programs in a number of therapeutic areas including: Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, diabetes and various cancers.