Finance Watch: Recent Offerings Show Some Companies Were Ready For The Government Shutdown

Public Company Edition: The usual mid-January surge in public offerings hasn't happened this year, since the SEC can't process new filings, but Alnylam, Acceleron and others apparently were prepared for a lengthy shutdown. Also, ARM reports cell and gene therapy financing data.

The ongoing US government shutdown means that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can't process new filings for proposed stock offerings, which means that the usual rush of biopharmaceutical firms to capitalize on investor goodwill following the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference isn't happening – though a few companies appear to have prepared new offerings prior to the shutdown.

Investors generally came away from J.P. Morgan feeling optimistic about financing and deal-making prospects for biopharma companies in 2019, despite...