(Source: PRNewswire)
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Just as biotech was "hot" in July it was a different story in August as the Burrill Biotech Select Index suffered from the summer "blahs" and posted a lackluster performance to close down 1.1 percent. The broader markets, on the other hand, continued their upward swing with the Dow closing the month up a healthy 3.5 percent and the Nasdaq closing up 1.5 percent.
Investors were, however, reminded on the last day of the trading month, that despite Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's assessment that the economy is on the verge of recovery, there is still some way to go yet. The Dow and Nasdaq dropped 0.5 and 1 percent respectively because a sharp drop in Chinese equities added to concerns about the relative strength of the global economy's recovery.
"The final quarter of the year is traditionally one of biotech's best," said G. Steven Burrill, CEO, Burrill & Company, a San Francisco based global leader in life sciences with activities in Private Equity, Venture Capital, Merchant Banking and Media, "and we will likely see, despite the market uncertainties, the industry build on its momentum gained during the past several months.
"Although biotech's year-to-date performance lags the general markets there have been some encouraging signs that investors are coming back spurred in July by the market performances of companies such as Human Genome Sciences and Targacept and the marquee acquisition of Medarex by Bristol-Myers Squibb. In addition, we did see an IPO get out the door in August. Cumberland Pharmaceuticals raised $85 million by offering 5,000,000 shares at $17.00, below the expected range of $19.00 to $21.00. The specialty pharmaceuticals company has products on the market, including a new injectable treatment for pain and fever, which is one of the reasons why the deal got done," noted Burrill.
"The Cumberland IPO will not open the biotech IPO window just yet, but companies on the runway with products already on the market, or close to it, might be tempted to 'test the waters' but early-stage, research-based biotechs are unlikely to find favor in a climate that still has no tolerance for risk."
One biotech predicted to test the US IPO waters in the near future is Talecris Biotherapeutics, a manufacturer of plasma-based proteins. Like Cumberland, the company has products on the market and its 2008 sales were $1.4 billion.
There was an international IPO completed during August as well. Israeli biotech company, D-Pharm, listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange raising $7.6 million in an oversubscribed offering.
