Venture-Backed Biotech Today: Reflections On Exits, Funding And Startup Formation

Biotech is definitely red-hot, and has been for the past eight quarters. Immuno-oncology, cancer metabolism, gene therapy, orphan diseases, NASH, autoimmune - there’s a broad range of disease settings that are capturing the excitement and imagination of investors today. With some sky high public market valuations, the big question is whether this is “hype and smoke and mirrors,” as framed up by Andy Pollack’s New York Times piece on Sunday (“Riding High, Biotech Firms Remain Way”). In the bull camp, there are certainly some fantastic new therapeutic advances coming from newly minted public biotechs, offering early but breakthrough clinical outcomes; many of these are sporting valuations commensurate with that promise. We’d all obviously like to believe this is a new era of sustainable capital markets support for high impact medical innovation – where the hype is supported by substance – but only time will tell if the high-flying companies of today and their product portfolios can mature favorably into their lofty valuations. Adam Feuerstein also threw out some “controversies” to kick off the year – citing valuations, drug pricing, conflicts of interest, the “next Sam Waskal moment” and a few others (here). And David Grainger double-clicked on those themes, and adding his rather bearish bubble commentary, in Forbes earlier this week (here). These three pieces clearly convey th...
Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News - Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Source Type: news