Despite the recent stock market rally and declining volatility, IPOs are rather rare in many industrialised countries –not least for seasonal reasons. The main reason for this, however, is the aggressive monetary policy of the central banks, with more than ten interest rate hikes in both Europe and the US.
Biotechnology is helping us tackle challenges such as emerging diseases, the impact of ageing in healthcare, population growth, climate change, and the green transition of the economy. Precision medicines, advanced therapies, mRNA and gene editing technologies are transforming the way diseases can be diagnosed and treated, providing life-saving solutions. Biotechnology is also at the forefront of building a sustainable economy, developing better crops, providing new protein sources, and producing bio-based materials.
Inflation has rebounded with a vengeance from its pandemic-induced recession lows. The US headline inflation rate surged to levels not seen since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, while the Eurozone’s Harmonised Index of Consumer Price (HICP) rose to the highest level in its entire 30-year lifespan.
From its all-time high in August 2021 the largest and most important index for the biotech industry also in Europe (NBI) lost around 25%. After a period of excessive capital inflows, money is much harder to come by these days. The answer can only be more creativity in structuring deals.
Biotechnology was dramatically rewarded in the financial markets through much of 2020 and the first half of 2021, widely credited for providing the COVID-19 vaccines. This followed four already exceptional years in the financial markets, with the Nasdaq Biotech Index (NBI) hitting its all-time high of 5449.32 on 30 August 2021.
Healthcare has long been considered one of the most reliable defensive sectors – an effective portfolio buffer when equity markets turn volatile. That’s because hospitals, drug makers, medical device firms and other companies across the healthcare sector benefit from steady consumer demand – still true?
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the UKs large pharma player, has voted to spin-off its consumer healthcare business into a new company called Haleon. Shareholders gave the go-ahead for GSK to demerge on 6, July, first trading day is today, 18th of July.
Berlin is no longer well-known only for its amazing cultural landscape and clubbing locations. Today, the German capital is one of the top three European tech start-up cities. This is a major attraction for investors, big pharma companies, and high-class researchers from all over the world who come to settle in the HealthCapital region Berlin-Brandenburg. During BIO-Europe in November, it offers the opportunity to dive into a fast-growing life sciences ecosystem.