DUBLIN – Last year was yet another banner year for European biotechnology firms engaged in drug development. The sector took in $7.739 billion in equity funding in 2019, just edging past the previous high of $7.715 billion it reached in 2018. The second half of the year was a marked improvement on the first half, but that was linked to the timing of a couple of large-scale transactions.
With a 349% increase in stock price since its June debut on U.S. markets, Boston-based Karuna Therapeutics Inc. secures the title of best IPO performer so far in 2019. The stock skyrocketed in November following positive top-line phase II data of Karxt in acute psychosis in patients with schizophrenia, providing a potential read-through to larger indications such as Alzheimer’s disease and pain.
HONG KONG & BEIJING – Chinese biosimilar maker Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. is ready to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on its second try. The firm plans to issue 64.7 million shares globally under the stock code 2696. The maximum offer price is HK$57.8 per share, which means the biosimilar maker could raise as much as HK$3.74 billion (US$477 million).
Although investor sentiment continues to remain low and unlikely to change for the remainder of the year, it seems that fact has fallen on deaf ears of those companies looking to graduate to the public ranks. Already in the first few days of September, five biopharma companies have added themselves to the IPO runway, bringing the number of pending U.S. offerings to 12, according to BioWorld.
HONG KONG – Sinomab Bioscience Ltd., a Hong Kong clinical-stage antibody firm, said its application for a Hong Kong IPO was accepted by the stock exchange, making it the 16th biopharma to submit an application under the new rules of the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX).
DUBLIN – To no one's great surprise, the underwriters of Genmab A/S's IPO on Nasdaq exercised their overallotment option, the company announced Friday, taking the total gross to $581.8 million. The Copenhagen-based antibody developer priced the offering of about 32.8 million American depositary shares at $17.75 Thursday. The stock (NASDAQ:GMAB) ended the week at $18.10.
Despite the ups and downs of the general markets and a U.S. government shutdown at the beginning of the year that contributed to no biopharma companies graduating to the public ranks in January, the enthusiasm for biopharma IPOs has remained steady since then. In fact, a flurry of IPO listings on U.S. stock exchanges last month helped bring the total of those offerings to 30 at the halfway point in the year.
DUBLIN – European biotechnology firms engaged in drug discovery and development raised an aggregate $3.172 billion in equity investment during the first half of 2019, down 19% on the same period last year. Unless there is a substantial pickup in the third and fourth quarters, the sector's record-breaking 2018 total of $7.715 billion looks to be out of reach.
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