Biotech Industry Edges Toward IPO Boomlet
For the first time in three years, the biotechnology industry is trying to crack open a new "window" for initial public offerings. But investors beware: A blast of pent-up demand could slam it shut again just as quickly.
Investors haven't shown much interest in biotech IPOs since the peak of biotech-stock enthusiasm in 2000, when the industry managed to launch 70 new offerings, according to Recombinant Capital, a consulting firm in Walnut Creek, Calif. Many of those stocks now trade well below their offering price, and one biotech that raised $120 million at the time, Deltagen, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
Only a handful of biotech firms have tried to go public since. Northwest Biotherapeutics, for instance, listed shares at $5 in late 2001. They rose 6% the first day of trading but subsequently collapsed, and now trade at 25 cents. Shares of DOV Pharmaceutical lost 33% of their value on their first day of trading in April 2002, although they have since recovered.
With public financing largely unavailable, the industry's research-intensive companies have had little choice but to conserve as much cash as possible while closing additional venture-capital rounds, often at successively lower valuations. Some unlucky companies have put themselves up for sale, while other unluckier companies have failed outright.
Since the beginning of this year, however, biotech shares have risen more than 40%, sparking a rash of biotech convertible-debt offerings a few months ago. That was followed in July by a series of secondary offerings, in which listed biotechs sold additional shares to public investors.
Now several closely held biotechs are again ready to test investor appetite for new listings. Thursday, Pharmion filed plans for an initial offering, joining five other biotechs -- Acusphere, Advancis Pharmaceuticals, Genitope, CancerVax and NitroMed -- that since July have collectively announced plans to offer shares worth as much as $521 million. On Wednesday, Neurochem, which is already listed in Canada, filed to raise as much as $51.8 million in a U.S. offering.
Kris Jenner , manager of the T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund, thinks investors and biotech companies are smart enough to avoid the excesses of 2000.
"I do think there's interest in financing new public companies that are quite strong," he says. "The companies I'm thinking about are ones that could walk through the front door as opposed to jumping in or out of a [financing] window."
Several of the biotechs already planning initial offerings, particularly Genitope, CancerVax and Pharmion, appear to fit that conservative definition, although Mr. Jenner stresses that he's not familiar with these particular companies.
All three companies have promising drugs either on the market or in late-stage human tests, and some have substantial cash reserves. CancerVax, in fact, announced that it raised $41 million in a venture-capital round the day before it filed its IPO plans.
"In biotech, it's always 'Get it while you can,' " says John Rumsey, a banker with Acquilo Partners in San Francisco.
Others, however, are less sanguine that only the industry's best companies will approach the public markets.
"Companies are going to be knocking old ladies out of the way to get at the window," says Vivek Jain, an investment banker with J.P. Morgan & Co.
For instance, some bankers are skeptical about the prospects of Acusphere, a drug-delivery technology company that filed for an initial offering in September 2001, only to withdraw the filing three months later. While the company does have one product, an ultrasound imaging agent, in late-stage tests, as of June 30 it held only $15.6 million in cash and equivalents and $644,000 in debt, and was burning cash on operating expenses at a rate of $8.5 million every six months.
Acusphere Chief Financial Officer John Thero said he was unable to comment on issues regarding the company or its IPO filing.
Institutional investors, venture capitalists and investment bankers expect the recent spate of biotech IPO filings to grow in coming months. BioCentury, an industry newsletter that tracks biotech finances, last month published a table of 13 likely IPO candidates that included CancerVax and Pharmion.
"Our portfolio companies are lacing up their boots like mad," says Standish Fleming, a venture capitalist at Forward Ventures in San Diego, which has backed CancerVax.
Among the most promising candidates are several "mature" biotechs such as Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, Myogen and Corgentech. Unlike biotech's "class of 2000," which included many genomics firms without clear plans to develop drugs or make money, these companies are already testing potentially lucrative drugs in late-stage clinical trials. While the companies are still burning through their cash, if all goes well they might have commercial products to sell within just a few years.
But the building IPO calendar has some investors concerned about how sustainable a biotech IPO boomlet will be.
"Unfortunately, it looks like this whole thing may be out of control," says Michael Brinkman, an investment banker with CIBC World Markets who remains unimpressed with the companies that have filed so far.
Although he expects the pace of such filings to quicken in coming weeks, Mr. Brinkman fears that without a solid, mature company leading the way, the window may be short-lived indeed.
"If you do too much too quickly, the whole thing can come to a grinding halt," he says.
Even if that happens, however, biotech financiers such as Acquilo's Mr. Rumsey think that the most mature biotechs will still manage to dive through. "It may not be pretty, but they'll get out," he says.
生物科技公司IPO热潮将至
生物科技业试图在首次公开募股(IPO)市场打开一扇新的“大门”，这种情况还是3年来的首次。但是投资者还是小心为妙，因为被抑制的需求一旦大爆发，也有可能使得这扇大门再次迅速关闭。
投资者对于生物科技股的热情于2000年达到最高点，此后，他们对新上市的生物科技类股就没有表现出太大兴趣。 据加州咨询公司Recombinant Capital的统计，2000年发行新股的生物科技公司高达70家。这些公司的股价有很多已跌破其发行价，其中一家名为Deltagen的公司当时筹资1.2亿美元，但今年早些时候却提出了破产保护申请。
自那以后，只有很少的几家生物科技公司尝试过上市。比如，Northwest Biotherapeutics在2001年底以每股5美元的价格发行了新股。该股在上市首日即涨6%，但随后暴跌，目前股价仅为25美分。DOV Pharmaceutical在2002年4月上市首日即跌33%，不过，其股价目前已有所回升。
由于基本上无法从公开市场获得融资，生物科技业中的研究密集型公司别无选择，只能尽可能多地节省资金和攫取额外的风险投资资金，而公司价值在此过程中不断下降。一些运气欠佳的公司乾脆将自己出售，而那些运气更糟的公司则彻底破产。
不过，今年年初以来，生物科技类股涨幅已超过40%，几个月前该行业还因此出现了一轮可转换债券发行热潮。7月，很多生物科技公司还进行了一系列的二次发行。
现在，一些少数股东持股的生物科技公司准备再次试探投资者对IPO的热情。昨天，Pharmion递交了IPO计划，从而成为7月以来申请上市的第6家公司。其他5家公司是Acusphere、Advancis Pharmaceuticals、 Genitope、CancerVax和NitroMed，计划招股总额总计5.21亿美元。已在加拿大上市的Neurochem周三提交在美国的上市申请，计划筹资高达5,180万美元。
T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund的经理克里斯?詹纳(Kris Jenner)认为，投资者和生物科技公司都很精明，足以避免2000年的IPO过多的局面。
他说，他认为市场仍有兴趣投资于实力较强的新上市公司，而他所关注的公司是那些可以轻松上市的公司，而不是用尽浑身解数但融资前景仍不明朗的公司。
已在计划IPO的生物科技公司中有一些，特别是Genitope, CancerVax和Pharmion等，似乎符合詹纳所说的比较保守的定义，但詹纳强调，他对这些公司并不熟悉。
所有3家公司均拥有一些市场前景非常看好的药品，其中一些药品已经上市销售，另外一些则处于后期人体试验阶段。另外，还有一些公司拥有较高的现金储备。CancerVax就宣布，其在提交IPO申请前，已筹集到4,100万美元的风险投资资金。
然而，也有人对拟上市生物科技公司都是业内最好公司的说法不甚支持。
JP摩根(J.P. Morgan & Co. )的投资银行家维维克?贾殷(Vivek Jain)说，有些公司为了能够上市而不惜一切手段。
比如，一些银行人士对Acusphere的前景就持怀疑态度。该公司2001年9月申请上市，但3个月后又撤销了申请。虽然该公司有一种超声成像制剂产品处于后期试验阶段，但其截至6月30日，仅拥有1,560万美元的现金和现金等价物，负债644,000美元，而营运支出速度惊人，每6个月就支出850万美元。
Acusphere的首席财务长约翰?西伦(John Thero)称，他无法就有关该公司的问题或IPO申请事宜发表评论。
机构投资者、风险投资家以及投资银行家都认为，生物科技类股近来的IPO热将在今后几个月中进一步增强。专门追踪生物科技业财务形势的行业通讯社BioCentury上月刊载了一个表格，列出了有可能进行IPO的13家公司，其中包括CancerVax和Pharmion。
在CancerVax有投资的Forward Ventures驻圣地牙哥的风险投资家斯坦迪什?福莱明(Standish Fleming)说，该风险基金所投资的公司都正在拼命准备上市。
最有希望成功上市的生物科技公司是一些业务较为成熟的公司，如Eyetech Pharmaceuticals、Myogen和Corgentech等。这些公司都拥有一些盈利前景很好的药物，而且目前已处于后期临床试验阶段，这一点与2000年IPO热潮中的公司有所不同，当时上市的生物科技公司中有很多是基因工程公司，他们在药品开发和盈利方面并没有明确的计划。
虽然眼下的这些公司还在不停地花钱，但如果一切顺利的话，它们的商业产品仍有可能在几年内面世。
但计划IPO的公司数量增多使得一些投资者担心，生物科技业眼下的IPO热能否持续。
CIBC World Markets的投资银行家迈克尔?布林克曼(Michael Brinkman)说，不幸的是，这种IPO热看来可能失控。他对已提出上市申请的公司仍不是十分看好。
虽然布林克曼预计今后几周这些公司上市申请的步伐将加快，但他担心，如果没有业务成熟、资金雄厚的公司领路，生物科技公司的IPO大门仍有可能很快关闭。
他说，欲速则不达。
不过，即便如此，该行业的很多金融家依旧认为，业务最成熟的那些公司仍将能够进入IPO市场。
