The sun shined on the first and last days of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, held 9-12 January in San Francisco, and the rain, winds and downed trees that soaked and blocked the paths of the meeting’s attendees did not serve as a metaphor for the performance of biotechnology stocks during the annual week during which companies, investors and other market observers try to forecast what the year ahead will be like for the biopharmaceutical industry.
Finance Watch: Sun Shines On Biotech Stocks As J.P. Morgan Ends
Deal Activity Kept Key Indices Rising
Public Company Edition: Also, Johnson & Johnson’s consumer health spin-out Kenvue filed paperwork to get the ball rolling on an initial public offering. In addition, Geron raised $198m and Madrigal accessed more than $300m after positive trial readouts, but layoffs were revealed by Editas, Elevation, Nabriva and others.

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CEO Kris Elverum told Scrip about the start-up’s platform for editing RNA to correct genetic variants that cause harm and to reproduce healthy variants as a means of treating disease.
The four-year-old firm said it plans to advance programs toward the clinic from the funding round, which comes just over a year after signing two major pharma partnerships.
Private Company Edition: The latest group of drug developers to announce venture capital financings is remarkable for its geographic diversity, from Character Biosciences’ $93m series B round in the US to Augustine’s $85m series B in Belgium to a $29.2m series C for Aculys in Japan.
Kyoto-based venture moves HQ to California to expand R&D and business outreach for its regulatory T-cell technology, as it raises around $46m in public and private funding.
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After failing a Phase II monotherapy study in early Parkinson’s, Cerevance will focus on adjunctive therapy without abandoning the monotherapy concept.
The firm has lofty ambitions for the aldosterone synthase inhibitor to treat hypertension and kidney disease.
Supply chain disruption fears at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic caused drug over-ordering. Imminent tariffs on drugs may have had a similar effect on pharma sales in Q1 earnings season.