The relationship between the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries has never been clearer – partner to survive. The Business Forum at the 2011 BIO International Convention is the world’s largest venue for partnering and it might be the best way for emerging companies to find partners .
While there are many quality sources for historical deal-trends, the Campbell Alliance and BIO have created the Dealmakers’ Intentions Survey and the BIO One-on-One Partnering Forecast, two unique forward-looking, prospective views of the partnering and licensing landscape in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.
Results of the 2011 studies will be released at one of the Super Sessions happening during the BIO International Convention, but Ben Bonifant from the Campbell Alliance provided BIOtechNOW with a preview of the survey results:
1. The most promising news is that most deal-makers anticipate licensing activity to, at least, remain steady or grow in 2011.
Where those deals will come from is what’s most important. As in previous years, the dealmakers anticipate a higher rate of growth in phase 2 over phase 3 deals, but the remarkable surge in expectations for phase 2 deals from 2010 has subsided.
2. Dealmakers are expecting increased activity on early stage deals.
About 50 percent of the respondents said they expected an increase in that area. This is a significant development that has come to fruition over the past 12 to 18 months as companies have partially moved away from the late-stage assets to fill pipeline gaps and more towards filling long-term pipeline needs.
3. Dealmakers are looking for yet the next landscape for their deal-making.
The respondents to this year’s survey reflect interests in a more diversified range of therapeutic areas. A lot of companies have moved to areas like oncology and immunology, because they’re more resilient to pressures on valuation. They’re starting to see that while those areas are resilient, a lot of other companies have moved in to them. Now, they’re looking for yet the next landscape for their deal-making and we’re seeing that within subsets of the cardiovascular, the metabolic, and even the dermatology area. However, it’s not that the dealmakers have returned to the large, primary care products of the past, but they’re actually looking for isolated areas of large unmet needs, with a high number of specialists prescribing, in a less competitive space.
**Original article from BIOtechNOW
