FEATURE Sciences (HGS,Rockville,Maryland,USA). Table 1 Casualties in 2009 which raised about $850 million in two fol- Company Reason for status change low-on offerings.As its stock price rocketed Alpha Innotech Acquired by Cell Biosciences after positive pivotal trial results for the lupus Altus Pharmaceuticals Bankruptcy drug Benlysta (belimumab),it tapped the Arthrokinetics Delisted public markets in late July for more than $373 Autoimmune Inactive million and again in December for about $477 Avalon Pharmaceuticals Acquired by Clinical Data million.The company's stock,which opened Avigen Acquired by Medicinova the year at $2.12,ended it at $30.58. Biopure Corporation Bankruptcy This is a similar story to Dendreon's BioXell Acquired by Cosmo (Seattle),which in April reported positive CelSis Acquired by JM Hambro phase 3 results for its prostate cancer vac- Cellegy Merged with Adamis Pharmaceuticals cine Provenge (sipuleucel-T),sending its Cell Genesys Acquired by BioSante stock up more than 100%on the day the Cobra Merged with Recipharm results were announced.This set the stage for a $427-million public offering in May,fol- Curagen Acquired by CellDex lowed by another in December.Provenge has Curalogic Bankruptcy now been approved,the company has priced CV Therapeutics Acquired by Gilead the drug aggressively,and Dendreon's stock, EPIX Pharmaceuticals Liquidated at the time of publication,sat just above $34; Evolutec Transformed into investment company it began 2009 at $4.59. Genaera Dissolved Whereas many of biotech's established Genentech Acquired by Roche companies completed debt deals last year, Hemacare Inactive returning that funding category to levels Hemagen Diagnostics Inactive seen before a well-below-average 2008,it IDM Pharma Acquired by Takeda was hardly a year worth mentioning for IPOs Introgen Bankruptcy (Table 3).Just ten occurred in 2009,none Isologen Bankruptcy before August,and none could be considered Intercytex Delisted a typical biotech IPO,either in the type of Liponex Merged with ImaSight company or the amount of money raised. Medarex Acquired by BNS For instance,the JSC Human Stem Cell Metabasis Therapeutics Acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals Institute(with sites in Russia,Germany and the Monogram Acquired by LabCorp Ukraine)raisedamere $4.8 million.The institute Napo Pharma Inactive doesn't look much like the usual biotech enter- Nastech Changed name to MDRNA prise preparing to go public:it has a research Neos Inactive laboratory and a center for storage of cellular Inactive materials,and it publishes the journal Cellular ⑨ Neurogen Northfield Laboratories Inactive Transplantation and Tissue Engineering. Nucryst Inactive What's more,an IPO is no longer the cash Nuvelo Merged with Arca windfall and viable exit for investors it once Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Inactive was.Consider D-Pharm(Rehovot,Israel), Phynova Delisted which raised about $7.4 million on the Tel Replidyne Aviv Stock Exchange to fund clinical testing Merged with Cardiovascular Targanta Acquired by The Medicines Company of its small-molecule stroke drug,DP-b99,a membrane-active derivative of the calcium ViRexx Medical Acquired by Paladin chelator 1,2-bis-(2-aminophenoxy)eth- XLT Biopharmaceuticals Delisted ane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA). Alongside the IPO,the company also com- pleted a rights offering (which gives existing and initial public offerings(IPOs)all declin- as once the general markets (and individual shareholders the right to buy shares during a ing substantially from previous years.Only stock prices)improved,the need for private defined period,usually at a discount),raising venture capital remained aloft,although investment faded. NIS 57 million($14.8 million).The existing venture capitalists were more inclined to put The largest follow-on offering of the year investors didn't exit-they instead had the money into companies previously invested (S640 million)was conducted by Qiagen choice to increase their stake. in,rather than new ventures. (Venlo,The Netherlands),a profitable pro- In truth,the average amount raised per This pattern reversed last year.Debt vider of sample and assay technologies IPO is hardly enough to alleviate finan- financings,venture capital and money raised (Table 2).It had the best year of its existence cial concerns for long.In 2008,our survey in follow-ons and IPOs all increased,almost in 2009,with overall revenues above $1 bil- showed IPOs raised on average $22.3 million. achieving the level seen in 2007,before the lion,and is the type of stable company that In the previous two years,it was considerably markets tanked.Only one category went can easily reach into the secondary-offering more,$58 million in 2007 and $41 million in backward,PIPEs-which was to be expected, market.The sexier story is Human Genome 2006.Figure 2 shows an IPO in 2009 raised, 794 VOLUME 28 NUMBER 8 AUGUST 2010 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY794 volume 28 number 8 august 2010 nature biotechnology Sciences (HGS, Rockville, Maryland, USA), which raised about $850 million in two fol￾low-on offerings. As its stock price rocketed after positive pivotal trial results for the lupus drug Benlysta (belimumab), it tapped the public markets in late July for more than $373 million and again in December for about $477 million. The company’s stock, which opened the year at $2.12, ended it at $30.58. This is a similar story to Dendreon’s (Seattle), which in April reported positive phase 3 results for its prostate cancer vac￾cine Provenge (sipuleucel-T), sending its stock up more than 100% on the day the results were announced. This set the stage for a $427-million public offering in May, fol￾lowed by another in December. Provenge has now been approved, the company has priced the drug aggressively, and Dendreon’s stock, at the time of publication, sat just above $34; it began 2009 at $4.59. Whereas many of biotech’s established companies completed debt deals last year, returning that funding category to levels seen before a well-below-average 2008, it was hardly a year worth mentioning for IPOs (Table 3). Just ten occurred in 2009, none before August, and none could be considered a typical biotech IPO, either in the type of company or the amount of money raised. For instance, the JSC Human Stem Cell Institute (with sites in Russia, Germany and the Ukraine) raised a mere $4.8 million. The institute doesn’t look much like the usual biotech enter￾prise preparing to go public: it has a research laboratory and a center for storage of cellular materials, and it publishes the journal Cellular Transplantation and Tissue Engineering. What’s more, an IPO is no longer the cash windfall and viable exit for investors it once was. Consider D-Pharm (Rehovot, Israel), which raised about $7.4 million on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to fund clinical testing of its small-molecule stroke drug, DP-b99, a membrane-active derivative of the calcium chelator 1,2-bis-(2-aminophenoxy)eth￾ane- N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA). Alongside the IPO, the company also com￾pleted a rights offering (which gives existing shareholders the right to buy shares during a defined period, usually at a discount), raising NIS 57 million ($14.8 million). The existing investors didn’t exit—they instead had the choice to increase their stake. In truth, the average amount raised per IPO is hardly enough to alleviate finan￾cial concerns for long. In 2008, our survey showed IPOs raised on average $22.3 million. In the previous two years, it was considerably more, $58 million in 2007 and $41 million in 2006. Figure 2 shows an IPO in 2009 raised, as once the general markets (and individual stock prices) improved, the need for private investment faded. The largest follow-on offering of the year ($640 million) was conducted by Qiagen (Venlo, The Netherlands), a profitable pro￾vider of sample and assay technologies (Table 2). It had the best year of its existence in 2009, with overall revenues above $1 bil￾lion, and is the type of stable company that can easily reach into the secondary-offering market. The sexier story is Human Genome and initial public offerings (IPOs) all declin￾ing substantially from previous years. Only venture capital remained aloft, although venture capitalists were more inclined to put money into companies previously invested in, rather than new ventures. This pattern reversed last year. Debt financings, venture capital and money raised in follow-ons and IPOs all increased, almost achieving the level seen in 2007, before the markets tanked. Only one category went backward, PIPEs—which was to be expected, Table 1 Casualties in 2009 Company Reason for status change Alpha Innotech Acquired by Cell Biosciences Altus Pharmaceuticals Bankruptcy Arthrokinetics Delisted Autoimmune Inactive Avalon Pharmaceuticals Acquired by Clinical Data Avigen Acquired by Medicinova Biopure Corporation Bankruptcy BioXell Acquired by Cosmo CelSis Acquired by JM Hambro Cellegy Merged with Adamis Pharmaceuticals Cell Genesys Acquired by BioSante Cobra Merged with Recipharm Curagen Acquired by CellDex Curalogic Bankruptcy CV Therapeutics Acquired by Gilead EPIX Pharmaceuticals Liquidated Evolutec Transformed into investment company Genaera Dissolved Genentech Acquired by Roche Hemacare Inactive Hemagen Diagnostics Inactive IDM Pharma Acquired by Takeda Introgen Bankruptcy Isologen Bankruptcy Intercytex Delisted Liponex Merged with ImaSight Medarex Acquired by BNS Metabasis Therapeutics Acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals Monogram Acquired by LabCorp Napo Pharma Inactive Nastech Changed name to MDRNA Neos Inactive Neurogen Inactive Northfield Laboratories Inactive Nucryst Inactive Nuvelo Merged with Arca Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Inactive Phynova Delisted Replidyne Merged with Cardiovascular Targanta Acquired by The Medicines Company ViRexx Medical Acquired by Paladin XLT Biopharmaceuticals Delisted feat u re © 2010 Nature America, Inc. 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