Silicon Valley Bank’s Failure Rattles Investors In Biopharma Sector

Investment bank analysts, VC funds and biopharma companies all sought to calm investors’ nerves as a go-to financial institution for tech and biotech collapsed.

Investors were rattled as Silicon Valley Bank, which long served biotech as well as technology companies, failed on 10 March • Source: Shutterstock

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the largest bank failure since Washington Mutual collapsed in 2008, has raised concerns among investors about potential contagion, but also about the significant exposure of the biotech sector to a bank that had long been a go-to financial institution for tech and biopharma companies as well as venture capital firms.

On 10 March, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took over SVB after financial regulators in California closed it down and moved to protect depositors at the bank, which operated 17 branches in California and Massachusetts

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