Tag Archives: life science nation

Hot Life Science Investor Mandate 1: Family Office with Ability to Quickly Deploy Capital Seeks Medical Device Opportunities – March 14, 2013

12 Mar

A single-family office based in the Eastern US that was established in order to identify investment opportunities on behalf of its founding family is currently managing over $1 billion in total assets, and is looking for new investment opportunities in the life science space. The firm has no set time frame to make an allocation, but would invest in a firm within the next 3-6 months if a compelling opportunity were identified. Because the firm is backed by the founding family and is not a typical fund that must go through the fundraising cycle, they have the ability to deploy capital as soon as an opportunity is sourced. The firm typically makes initial investments in the $500,000 to $1 million range.

The firm is currently most interested in companies in the medical technology space, but has no specific area of interest within it, and thus would be open to considering any kind of medical device.

The family office typically provides growth equity to firms right after they have received their Series A round. They prefer firms that have a pre-money valuation ranging from $3-5 million, and that the firm has a prototype of the device. The family office has a long-term investment horizon, and likes to hold companies in their portfolio for much longer than a typical private equity firm.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Hot Life Science Investor Mandate 2: European VC Interested in Wide Range of Biotech & Medtech Opportunities – March 14, 2013

12 Mar

A venture capital fund based in Denmark has over €700 million in total assets under management, and has raised three funds. The firm is currently deploying assets from its third fund, which closed in 2011. The third fund’s portfolio currently consists of four companies. They are unsure of how many transactions they will execute in 2013, but aim to have ten to twelve companies in their portfolio for their third fund, and thus would invest in a firm over the next few quarters if a compelling opportunity is identified. Their typical equity check ranges from €6-10 million.

The firm is looking for companies in the biotech therapeutics & diagnostics space, and the medtech space. The fund invests in both therapeutics & diagnostics, and will consider the full gamut of subsectors and indications within the biotech therapeutics and diagnostics, as well as in the medtech space.

The VC invests in pre-revenue, early stage companies. With that being said, they are solely looking for companies that do not currently have a product on the market. In the biotech therapeutics and diagnostics space, the firm typically prefers to invest in companies one year prior to the firm starting their phase I clinical trials. In the medtech space, the firm looks for companies that have a prototype of their device.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Hot Life Science Investor Mandate 3: Private Equity Fund Targets Contract Organizations for 2013 – March 14, 2013

12 Mar

A private equity fund based in the Eastern US has around $200 million in total assets under management, has raised three funds, and is currently allocating capital from its third fund to new investment opportunities. They are currently looking for new opportunities in the life science space, and anticipate on investing in 4-6 firms in 2013. The firm typically writes equity checks ranging from $15-50 million.

The PE fund is currently most interested in firms within the biotech R&D space. Specifically, they are looking for contract research organizations (CROs) and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs). The firm also invests in the medical device space, but prefers firms that are manufacturing low-technology products. The firm is agnostic in terms of where the firm is based, however the majority of the firm’s current portfolio companies are based in the US.

The firm engages in leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, and growth financing. Typically, they work with companies whose enterprise value ranges from $25 to $300 million, and are looking for firms that have at least $5 million in EBITDA. However, the PEG has been involved in co-investment tractions with enterprise values exceeding $1 billion. With that being said, they will only consider medical device companies that have products that are on the market, and would not consider a pre-revenue medtech firm. The firm invests in both public and private companies.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Hot Life Science Investor Mandate 1: Mezzanine Debt Fund Focused on Intellectual Property Investments – March 7, 2013

6 Mar

A mezzanine debt fund with offices in the United States is focused on structured financings of commercialized biopharmaceutical products and medical technologies. The firm’s total AUM is approximately $400 Million. They have collectively completed more than 50 royalty transactions representing more than $3 billion in capital over the past 15 years.

The fund is heavily invested in healthcare investing that focuses on intellectual property investments in FDA-approved biopharmaceutical assets through royalty bonds, structured debt, revenue interests and traditional royalty monetization. The firm targets investments between $20 and $200 million, and work directly with leading healthcare companies and research institutions.

Typical financings are intended to healthcare organizations fund pipeline development, make acquisitions, and expand into new markets—all with an adaptable source of capital. The firm’s primary source of collateral is derived from commercialized products.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hot Life Science Investor Mandate 2: Government Organization has $2b to Promote Sustainable Tech Developments – March 7, 2013

6 Mar

A foundation that was created by the government of Canada in order to provide funding for technologies that promote sustainable development has been provided nearly $2 billion in assets by the Canadian government in order to further this mission. The foundation is registered as a non-profit, non-share capital corporation under the Canada Business Corporations Act. The government foundation has two funds, which have allocated over $1 billion together.

The firm is currently looking for new firms in the life sciences space for potential allocations; and although they do not have a set number of firms they wish to allocate to over the next six to nine months, they typically will provide capital to around 20 firms annually. With that being said, they will allocate to a number of firms over the next 6-9 months if some compelling opportunities are uncovered.

The foundation typically invests around $2-3 million per firm, but has allocated as little as $500,000 and as much as $40 million in the past. They are currently most interested in the biotech space, specifically in firms focused on environmental biotechnology. In particular, the firm is seeking firms that are developing anti-pollution or waste remediation technologies. The firm is only looking for firms that are pre-revenue, and thus provide seed funding to these firms.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hot Life Science Investor Mandate 3: VC Group has Interest in CMOs, CROs – March 7, 2013

6 Mar

A venture capital group based in the Eastern US has around $200 million in assets, and is currently deploying capital from the firm’s second fund, which has $100+ million in assets. They are currently looking for new investment opportunities in the life sciences space, and plan to invest in 2-3 new firms within the next six to nine months. The firm allocates $3-10 million and the majority of the group’s investments are in the $5-7 million range.

The firm is most interested in biotech R&D services firms, and is seeking contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) and contract research organizations (CROs). The firm is looking for biotech firm’s whose primary customer base is biotech therapeutic and diagnostic firms as well as pharmaceutical companies. The firm prefers companies that have at least $2 million in revenue, but prefers firms in the $5-30 million range. The firm solely invests in privately owned firms.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

CRO Trends in 2013

6 Mar

By Alejandro Zamorano, VP of Business Development, LSN

A clinical research organization (CRO) is an organization that provides support to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries in the form of research services outsourced on a contract basis. These services can include assay development, preclinical research, clinical research, clinical trial management, and commercialization services. CROs have grown massively over the past 10 years due to their ability to specialize; allowing clients to streamline operations far beyond what could ever be accomplished internally. These firms tend to be highly capital efficient, and play the space strategically. A CROs survival is hinged on moving with industry changes. Below are the top behavior trends among CROs for 2013 as we continue to see strong growth in this often ignored sector:

Strategic Alliances

2013 will be the year of strategic alliances for the CRO industry. Big pharma is already picking sides, signing multiyear agreements with the industry’s big players. By forming partnerships, big pharma is able to negotiate prices and take advantage of key personnel within the company. In addition, big pharma can consolidate its operations and streamline communications, easing the burden of managing multiple service providers.

Investors

CROs have begun to take equity positions in lieu of cash for services rendered, especially among small and emerging clients. We will continue to see this trend grow as CROs move more heavily into the small and emerging biotech space due to competition and the potential opportunity to foster a long-term relationship. In addition to this, these specialized organizations can (and will) leverage their in-house expertise to invest in particular assets. This trend is also being facilitated by the fact that CROs want to diversify their exposure from a specific service class, and want to participate in the upside potential with unique clients. As an entrepreneur getting a discount off of preclinical work, Phase I or Phase II study is huge relief. In addition, this is appealing for the entrepreneur as it aligns the interest of the entrepreneur and the CRO. Finally, CROs tend take modest equity stakes depending on the work rendered and the phase of the lead asset, which is often more attractive than what entrepreneurs can yield in the market.

Emerging Markets
CROs will continue to expand their operations in China and India to take advantage of the cheap labor force, a more lenient regulatory environment, rapidly accelerating R&D, and advantageous tax treatments. It’s not just US and European-based companies relocating operations to these markets; over the past 5 years, native companies in these emerging markets have begun to make a splash. Often competing on price, these native operations have begun to put pressure on the market, decreasing gross margins across the board.

Globalization

With growing the therapeutic market in the emerging markets, countries are now requiring that native populations are included in clinical trials. As a result, clinical trial organizations have significantly grown in countries such as Brazil, Russian, Japan, China, and South Korea. As of 2011, around 53% of clinical trials were performed in the US, 24% in Europe, and 23% in the rest of the world. Looking forward we can expect the market share especially amongst the BRIC’s (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to grow. Analysts for example project the pharmaceutical market in China will reach $200 billion by 2020, making it the second largest in the world.

Developing Biosimilars

Large CROs are starting to team up with CMOs as they realize that by combining their economies of scale in the area of biologics, they have a perfect partnership to start developing bio-similars. Small biotechs have realized that developing biosimilars is harder than most would have expected. More importantly traditional generic developers are not equipped to handle the next generation of biosimilars. This has provided a perfect opportunity for CRO’s to fill in the gap.

 

http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/rd-trends-spur-cro-business/2011-08-05

http://www.contractpharma.com/issues/2011-05/view_features/cro-industry-update-2011-04-29-10-53-51/

http://www.niceinsight.com/ni_it.php

http://www.contractpharma.com/issues/2012-06/view_features/cro-outlook-opportunities

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →