2016 Industry Pressures Drive Mixed Healthcare Investor Sentiment in 4th Quarter

Although 2016 overall turned out to be a mixed year for healthcare, heightened investor activity in the fourth quarter points to a case for guarded optimism heading into 2017, according to the latest Financing, Licensing and M&A Quarterly Report from BioPharm Insight (BPI).

Get the Report: http://www.biopharminsight.com/financing-licensing-ma-4q16

BPI, the most comprehensive life science market intelligence and analytics solution, reports that initial public offerings (IPOs) saw the most dramatic increase late in the year, going from 21 in the third quarter to 35 in the fourth quarter. The value of IPO deals in the fourth quarter jumped dramatically, going from $1.75 billion in the third quarter to $8.15 billion. The largest healthcare IPO in the quarter was South Korea’s Samsung BioLogics (KRX:20794), which raised $1.9 million and was listed on the Korean Exchange.

“The big question is whether the IPO window in 2017 will remain open or if the unfavorable market sentiment that dominated the first three quarters of 2016 will return,” said Querida Anderson, editor in chief at BioPharm Insight.

Healthcare mergers and acquisitions (M&As), venture financing rounds and licensing deals were a mixed bag in the fourth quarter, according to BPI, with global numbers for each category being up, but the value of the deals showing declines of 5 percent, 13 percent and 17 percent, respectively.

“Even though Donald Trump’s stance on drug pricing was largely unknown, his surprising victory in the U.S. presidential election created momentum for a healthcare market rally in November,” said Peter Murphy, senior editorial analyst at BioPharm Insight. “The prevailing wisdom is that there will be no major pricing reform under a new administration and Congress, with overall signs for M&A activity pointing up in large part due to the Republican Party’s stances on tax reform and cash repatriation.”

The report provides snapshots of the 10 largest healthcare IPOs, M&A deals, drug licensing deals and venture financing rounds in the fourth quarter, as well as five-year regional trends around the globe. It also highlights a selection of BPI’s editorial coverage based on interviews with C-level executives about their 2017 financing requirements and licensing plans.

In M&A activity, the report discusses the pipeline challenges Actelion (VTX:ATLN) continues to experience and Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE:JNJ) bid to acquire the company. BPI also examines the specialty pharmacy acquisition strategy of PDL BioPharma (NASDAQ:PDLI); the interest of some Big Pharma companies in acquiring female health drugmaker Palatin Technologies (NYSEMKT:PTN); Ipsen’s (EPA:IPN) oncology and neuroscience acquisition strategy; and Galapagos’ (AMS:GLPG) recent cash infusions that is allowing the company to develop more drugs on its own.

Learn more about Financing, Licensing and M&A Activity in the 4th Quarter with BioPharm Insight’s full report:

http://www.biopharminsight.com/financing-licensing-ma-4q16

Tweet: #Healthcare #IPOs leap past $8B in 4Q 2016 – @BioPharmInsight Financing, Licensing and M&A Report: http://bit.ly/bpi4q16

About BioPharm Insight

BioPharm Insight is the most comprehensive life science market intelligence and analytics solution, featuring a team of investigative journalists writing exclusive news and thousands of healthcare data points, aggregated into one centralized source. In addition to the proprietary articles, BioPharm Insight is currently tracking 250,000 management and R&D contacts, 7,500 biopharma companies with full pipeline data, 120,000 investigational and approved drug profiles, 28,000 M&A and licensing deals, 10,000 extended sales forecasts and epidemiology profiles for hundreds of indications.

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