US trails Europe in IPOs
Biopharma firms in Europe are on target to raise more money through initial public offerings (IPOs) than their counterparts in the US this year. In the first eight months of 2005, European biopharmas raised $533 million to the $513 million raised by US companies. This is unusual. According to BioCentury, over the past 10 years, average annual proceeds from European biotech IPOs ran about one-third of those in the United States. Also, in previous years even when Europe produced a large number of biopharma IPOs, proceeds were too small to amount to much. This year, once again, the average European biopharma IPO raised less than the average American biopharma IPO: $38 million against $57 million. But there have been 14 biopharma IPOs in Europe compared with only 9 in the US. Only three biopharma firms have gone public in the US since the first quarter. The largest biopharma IPO in Europe this year was for the infectious disease treatment company, Arpida, which raised $81 million in May; the largest IPO in the US was that of specialty pharmaceutical firm, MediciNova, which raised $121 million in February. The last time European biopharma IPO proceeds topped those in the US was in 1998. A few US firms are scheduled to float IPOs in the 4th quarter, but it is unlikely that their proceeds will tip the balance. StL
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