Stock Watch: Funding Biotech In A Hostile Environment

All-Stock Mergers On The Up As Financing Options Dwindle

14 Mar 2023

• By Andy Smith

When the traditional fundraising window closes and clinical, regulatory or commercial success eludes, other routes to raise cash emerge. But these have also become more scarce recently, leaving all-stock consolidations.

Stock Watch Image, Andy Smith — ANDY SMITH OFFERS A LIFE SCIENCE INVESTOR'S PERSPECTIVE ON BIOPHARMA BUSINESS

The NASDAQ Biotech Index is down by nearly 27% since the last peak, the IPO window is virtually shut, there is diminished appetite for secondary offerings, the situation has been made worse by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and most other routes for funding biotech companies have also fallen out of favor. Enter all-stock mergers.

The traditional route for private biotech companies to access the funding needed to progress their products is the initial public...