It was an up and down quarter for biotech stocks; the pace of financing as a whole slowed, with follow-on financings of public companies in particular falling off a cliff. The thirst for initial public offerings (IPOs), however, continued, with Keymed Biosciences and Brii Biotech raising large amounts on the Hong Kong exchange; in the United States, companies developing small molecules capable of drugging drug-resistant kinases or pioneering innovative epigenetic approaches in cancer figured prominently. RNA therapeutics and novel types of adoptive immune cell therapy raised substantial private rounds. The last quarter also saw a rash of prominent licensing deals between US and Chinese biotechs.
Stock market performance
The Biotech index performed roughly the same as the NASDAQ and slightly better than the other major indices.
Global biotech initial public offerings
Although companies continued their march onto public markets, US funding was down and European IPOs in particular tanked.
Number of IPOs
2Q20 | 3Q20 | 4Q20 | 1Q21 | 2Q21 | 3Q21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Asia-Pacific | 8 | 13 | 20 | 9 | 12 | 9 |
Europe | 6 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
Americas | 17 | 22 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 27 |
Global biotech financing
Across the board financing was down, but debt in particular was over 20-fold lower than the same time last year.
Global biotech venture capital investment
Last quarter saw the lowest number of rounds (96) for the past two years.
Number of rounds
2Q20 | 3Q20 | 4Q20 | 1Q21 | 2Q21 | 3Q21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Asia-Pacific | 23 | 31 | 35 | 23 | 10 | 14 |
Europe | 40 | 50 | 38 | 41 | 34 | 23 |
Americas | 107 | 102 | 86 | 132 | 93 | 59 |
Top 10 IPOs of 3Q21
Company (principal underwriters) | Amount raised ($ millions) | Date completed | Latest stage and focus | Percent change in stock price (as of 9/30/2021) | Exchange |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Keymed Biosciences (Morgan Stanley, CICC, Huatai Securities, China Everbright) | 400 | 7 July | Phase 2; mAbs, bispecifics and antibody–drug conjugates in cancer and autoimmune indications | –24% | Hong Kong |
Adagio Therapeutics (Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Stifel, Nicolaus, Guggenheim Securities) | 356 | 5 August | Phase 2/3; Adimab spinout developing broadly neutralizing mAbs for SARS-CoV-2 variants and zoonotic sarbecoviruses | 28% | NASDAQ |
Erasca (J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, Evercore ISI, Guggenheim Securities) | 345 | 15 July | Phase 1/2; RAS/MAPK pathway cancer therapeutics | 22% | NASDAQ |
Brii Biosciences (Morgan Stanley, UBS, CICC) | 320 | 13 July | Phase 2/3; infectious disease, neurology | 70% | Hong Kong |
Caribou Biosciences (BofA Securities, Citigroup, SVB Leerink) | 304 | 22 July | Market; genome editing tools, services | 35% | NASDAQ |
Dice Therapeutics (BofA Securities, SVB Leerink, Evercore ISI) | 204 | 14 Sept | IND; small- molecule inhibitors of dimeric or trimeric protein–protein interactions for autoimmune disease | –11% | NASDAQ |
Tyra Biosciences (BofA Securities, Jefferies, Cowen) | 199 | 14 Sept | Preclinical; structure-based drug design of small-molecule inhibitors to avoid inducing known resistance mutations at catalytic or allosteric sites | –36% | NASDAQ |
Nuvalent (J.P. Morgan, Cowen, Piper Sandler) | 191 | 28 July | Preclinical; structure-based drug design of small-molecule kinase inhibitors to improve their selectivity and efficacy against resistance | 27% | NASDAQ |
Icosavax (Jefferies, Cowen, Evercore ISI, William Blair) | 182 | 28 July | Phase 1; virus-like particle vaccines | 16% | NASDAQ |
Imago BioSciences (Jefferies, Cowen, Stifel, Nicolaus, Guggenheim Securities) | 134 | 15 July | Phase 2; small-molecule inhibitors and PROTACs of lysine-specific demethylase in thrombocythemia and myelofibrosis | 29% | NASDAQ |
Top ten venture financings of 3Q21
Company (lead investors) | Amount raised ($ millions) | Round | Date completed | Location | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Suzhou Abogen Biosciences (Temasek, Invesco, Loyal Valley Capital, GL Ventures and others)) | 700 | C | 19 August | China | mRNA vaccines |
Laronde (Flagship Pioneering, T. Rowe Price, Invus and others)) | 440 | B | 30 August | United States | Circular RNA for protein expression |
Sonoma Biotherapeutics (Ally Bridge Group, Arrowmark Partners, Avidity Partners and others)) | 265 | B | 4 August | United States | Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T regulatory cell therapy for oncology |
InterVenn Biosciences (SoftBank Group, Heritage Provider Network, Irving Investors and others)) | 201 | C | 2 August | United States | Liquid biopsies using glycoproteomics |
Deep Genomics (SoftBank Vision Fund, Alexandria Venture Investments, Fidelity Management and Research and others) | 180 | C | 28 July | Canada | Artificial intelligence–enabled discovery of antisense oligonucleotides |
Wugen (Abingworth, Tybourne Capital Management, Fidelity Management & Research, Intermediate Capital Group and others) | 172 | B | 15 July | United States | CAR-memory natural killer (NK) cell and CAR-T cell therapies for oncology |
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals (Viking Global Investors, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Perceptive Advisors and others) | 135 | C | 20 July | United States | Combination of small-molecule histone deacetylase inhibitor (sodium phenylbutyrate) and the chaperone-like ursodoxicoltaurine for use in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
Skyhawk Therapeutics (Fidelity Management and Research, undisclosed investors) | 133 | E | 14 September | United States | Small molecules that modify mRNA expression |
Ring Therapeutics (Invus, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Partners Investment and others) | 117 | B | 28 July | United States | Anelloviral vectors for delivering foreign genes as single-stranded DNA episomes |
PepGen (RA Capital Management, Oxford Sciences Innovation, CureDuchenne Ventures and others) | 113 | Not disclosed | 5 August | United Kingdom | Peptide-conjugated oligonucleotides |
Top 10 licensings/collaborations of 3Q21 by up-front cash
Researcher | Partner | Up-front cash ($ millions) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Arvinas | Pfizer | 650 | Co-development and commercialization of PROTAC estrogen receptor degrader ARV-471 |
RemeGen | Seagen | 200 | Co-development of disitamab vedotin, an antibody–drug conjugate comprising a humanized IgG1 mAb targeting HER2 linked to monomethyl auristatin E |
Adaptimmune Therapeutics | Genentech | 150 | Collaboration to research, develop and commercialize cancer-targeted allogeneic T-cell therapies |
InnoCare Pharma | Biogen | 125 | Licensing and collaboration agreement for orelabrutinib, a CNS-penetrant Bruton’s tyrosine kinase small-molecule inhibitor against multiple sclerosis |
Arena Pharmaceuticals | Aristea Therapeutics | 60 | Co-development of RIST4721, a small-molecule inhibitor of interleukin-8B receptor, for treating immune-mediated inflammatory diseases |
Lycia Therapeutics | Eli Lilly | 35 | Collaboration to discover and develop novel lysosomal targeting chimera (LYTAC) degraders comprising an mAb conjugated to a synthetic oligoglycopeptide that binds CI-M6PR (cation-independent ligand that binds mannose-6-phosphate receptor), responsible for lysosome trafficking |
Incyte | InnoCare Pharma | 35 | Collaboration and license agreement in Greater China for tafasitamab, an anti-CD19 humanized IgG1/2 hybrid with an Fc region engineered to bind FcγRIIa and FcγRIIIa to potentiate antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and cellular phagocytosis |
Bicycle Therapeutics | Ionis Pharmaceuticals | 34 | Exclusive licensing agreement aimed at further advancing ligand-associated antisense oligonucleotide technology |
BeyondSpring | Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine | 30 | Exclusive commercialization and co-development agreement for plinabulin, a vascular disrupting agent, in Greater China |
Ascentage Pharma | Innovent | 30 | Agreements for commercialization in China of olverembatinib, a small-molecule inhibitor of BCR-ABL and KIT receptor; for joint clinical development of lisaftoclax, a small-molecule selective BCL-2 inhibitor; and for equity investments in Ascentage |
Mergers and acquisitions
Target | Acquirer | Deal focus | Value ($ millions) | Date announced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Grail | Illumina | Blood-based screening for early cancer detection | 8,000 | 18 August |
Translate Bio | Sanofi | mRNA vaccines and therapies | 3,200 | 3 August |
Protomer Technologies | Eli Lilly | Glucose-sensing insulin and other small-molecule-activated biologics | 1,000 | 14 July |
Thunderbolt Pharma | Aurinia Pharmaceuticals | A BCMA–Fc fusion protein for blocking B-cell activating factor (BAFF) and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) for B-cell disorders | 7 | 17 August |
Stelios Pharmaceuticals | Lexeo Therapeutics | Adeno-associated viral cardiac gene therapies | Undisclosed | 21 July |
Gotham Therapeutics | 858 Therapeutics | Small-molecule epitranscriptomic METTL3 inhibitors | Undisclosed | 20 September |
Courier Therapeutics | Valo Health | A cowpox virus–encoded orthopoxvirus major histocompatibility complex class I-like protein fused to mutated IL-2 with poor affinity for IL-2Rα | Undisclosed | 27 July |
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DeFrancesco, L. 3Q21—the market stalls. Nat Biotechnol 39, 1329–1331 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-01114-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-01114-z
