Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology Deal Statistics Quarterly, Q3 2011

30 Nov 2011

Biopharma financing dropped in Q3 2011 to $1.3 billion, down from $6.3 billion in Q2. There were 20 M&A deals that totaled $30.9 billion, attributed mainly to the $27.7 million merger of PBMs Express Scripts and Medco. Almost a quarter of the alliances penned were for preclinical assets.

The third quarter of 2011 saw biopharmaceutical financings slump in both the number of transactions and the amount of money raised. The 61 financings that closed brought in $1.3 billion, well below Q2, in which 89 transactions raised $6.3 billion. (See Exhibit 1.) Follow-on public offerings led the pack in Q3, with $363 million gathered through only 10 deals. The two largest FOPOs together brought in close to half of that money – Zogenix Inc.’s $57.5 million [See Deal] and InterMune Inc.’s $94.4 million. [See Deal] Coincidentally, the biggest transaction this quarter was InterMune’s concurrent $131 million debt offering. [See Deal] The company’s financings will be used for the European launch of the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis drug Esbriet (pirfenidone) – which was acquired from Marnac Inc. in 2007 [See Deal] – and to fund the Phase III ASCEND trial in the US. [See Deal] The remainder of the follow-ons went to cancer-focused companies – BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc., [See Deal]Delcath Systems Inc., [See Deal]CytRx Corp., [See Deal]Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc., [See Deal] and Agenus Inc.[See Deal]