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Biotechnology in 1998 and beyond

Nature Biotechnology volume 16, pages 1378–1379 (1998)Cite this article

The end of each year is a good opportunity to take stock of the biotechnology industry and engage in a review of technologies that might emerge as future winners. As I stated in this column one year ago, futurology of this type is dangerous if based on macro-environmental factors, such as the overall performance of the industry in the financial markets1. For example, the biotechnology industry has not done particularly well in raising money in the private and public sectors in 1998. In fact, there has been a steady decline in the total amount of money raised since the high of 1996, during which initial public offerings, venture rounds, follow-ons, and other types of fundraising (excluding alliances) pumped $7.6 billion into industry coffers for R&D. As Table 1 shows, 1997 saw $5.8 billion raised, a decline of 34% over 1996, and 1998 has raised $4.4 billion to date, so another decline is highly likely. It also shows that the decline is almost entirely in IPOs and follow-on offerings, but not in private rounds of fundraising, suggesting that public markets are jittery, but private money sources have maintained their level of confidence during the last few years.

Table 1 Biotechnology fundraising in 1997–1998.
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References

  1. Persidis, A. 1997. Nat. Biotechnol. 15: 1409–1411.

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  2. Persidis, A. 1998. Chemistry & Industry 19: 782–784.

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  1. vice president for business development at Argonex Inc.,, 2044 India Road, Suite 202, Charlottesville, 22901, VA

    Aris Persidis

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  1. Aris Persidis
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Persidis, A. Biotechnology in 1998 and beyond. Nat Biotechnol 16, 1378–1379 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/4375

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