BioIndustry Association/Informa Biotech Financing Update shows venture capital financing and follow on financing are off to a solid start in 2018

The BIA/Informa Biotech Financing Update: December 2017-February 2018 released today shows that venture capital financing and follow on financings on the public markets are off to a solid start in 2018. The first quarterly Biotech Financing Update sees the continuation of many of the trends shown in the annual report ‘Pipeline progressing: the UK’s Global Bioscience cluster in 2017’ that the BIA released in January this year: 

  • Venture capital funding was dominated by strong B rounds that are already more than half of the 2017 total (largely made up of Orchard Therapeutics’ £85m raise), and seed funding which is already nearly half of the 2017 annual total.
  • Follow on financing was dominated by the GW Pharma follow on public offering on Nasdaq, which raised £221.6m.
  • The public markets have had a quiet start to the year, much like 2017 where we just saw one biotech IPO in the first half of the year. The Main Market has been quiet overall with February seeing just £31m raised in IPOs and £233m in follow on financing across all sectors.
  • Three UK biotech companies have used debt financing so far this year and the total accessed (£18.8m) represents around a quarter of the total from 2017.

BIA CEO, Steve Bates, said: “It’s great to see UK biotech companies starting the year with some strong fundraisings, including some great outcomes for BIA member companies such as Orchard Therapeutics and GW Pharma. We look forward to tracking the trends for UK biotech financing throughout these quarterly updates in 2018.”

Informa Data Editor, John Hodgson, said: “Biopharma offerings globally so far in 2018 are double 2017 levels. This bodes well for a cash-hungry, market-ready companies in the UK.”

Notes to editors

You can download the report here

Contact: Ed Sexton, Communications and Media Relations Manager, BIA [email protected] 02076302196

About the BIA                    

Established over 25 years ago at the infancy of biotechnology, the BioIndustry Association (BIA) is the trade association for innovative enterprises involved in UK bioscience. Members include emerging and more established bioscience companies; pharmaceutical companies; academic, research and philanthropic organisations; and service providers to the bioscience sector. The BIA represents the interests of its members to a broad section of stakeholders, from government and regulators to patient groups and the media. Our goal is to secure the UK's position as a global hub and as the best location for innovative research and commercialisation, enabling our world-leading research base to deliver healthcare solutions that can truly make a difference to people's lives.   

For further information, please go to www.bioindustry.org and twitter.com/BIA_UK

About Informa Pharma Intelligence

Informa is a leading business intelligence, academic publishing, knowledge and events group. Its Pharma Intelligence Division provides specialist data, intelligence and insight to businesses and professionals around the world, helping them make better decisions, gain competitive advantage and enhance return on investment. From early phase and portfolio decisions to clinical research and development and commercial planning and analysis, our services include a suite of complementary subscription news, data and analysis services, expert analyst reports and consulting capabilities from the world’s leading pharma and healthcare R&D and business intelligence brands – Datamonitor Healthcare, Sitetrove, Trialtrove, Pharmaprojects, Medtrack, Biomedtracker, Scrip, Pink Sheet, In Vivo.

https://pharmaintelligence.informa.com/

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