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Author Archive: David Thomas, CFA
David is currently Director of Industry Research and Analysis at BIO in Washington, DC. In this role, he is responsible for financial statistics and analysis of the biotechnology sector and contributes to BIO’s policy activities as well as programming for BIO’s investor conferences. Prior to joining BIO, he was a research scientist at the J. Craig Venter Institute working on the “synthetic cell” team led by Nobel Laureate Hamilton Smith. Before his role in synthetic biology, David worked as a scientist in drug discovery at Amgen, Millennium, and Novartis. His scientific expertise is in protein engineering, enzymology, and synthetic biology. David has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and holds a master’s degree in biochemistry.
Latest Posts
Reviewing the drug class of 2011
The drug class of 2011 was larger than the past few graduating classes. We count over 30 new “innovative” drugs found among the list of FDA approvals last year. This is in contrast to the 20-something range of the past few years. On the list are some clear breakthrough treatments and a few glimpses of “the future of biotech”. The specific drugs are listed further below, but first a big picture view: Ten of the approvals were for biologics, Read More >
Venture Capital increases in 2011, but…
The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has released their 4Q 2011 numbers for biotech venture financing in the US. The report echoes the global numbers already out from BioCentury and BioWorld – a boost in investment for 2011. The take away, however, is not the total amount, but 1) the drop in the total number of biotech deals, and 2) the drop in start-up, early-stage deals from 2010. The total number of deals near 447 was down Read More >
Sizing up the NBI in 2011
How did the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) perform in 2011 relative to other sectors? Second place. Not so bad considering 2011 was the year of defense in the stock market. Like a page out of a textbook on defensive market plays, utilities edged out ahead with a +15% gain, followed by consumer staples with 11%. The NBI squeezed in between at 12%, just above the overall healthcare sector. Overall, the S&P500 was flat for the Read More >
IPO Update – Jan 2012
2011 ended quietly for the US biotech IPO market. It has now been almost two months without a biotech IPO. The last few IPOs back in November continued the theme that was in place at the beginning of the year – you can get out, but with a -30% haircut. In fact, only two of the 12 IPOs in 2011 raised more than they filed for. This is shown in chart 1 below. The two Read More >
Where’s the Deal?
With only two weeks to go in 2011 it is looking like a five year low for deals. The chart below shows therapeutic deals dropping every year since 2007. We use the Windhover/Elsevier Strategic Transaction Database as our starting point for deal analytics. We analyze each deal to determine if the deal is for a drug asset, removing generic/OTC deals, manufacturing/service deals, device/diagnostics/tools deals, and tech transfer deals. What remains are deals for biotech company Read More >
