Dire stats for biotech

The Biotech Industry Organization (BIO) this morning released a set of statistics that give a rather dire snapshot of the industry's health. Here are some of the highlights -- or, should I say, lowlights -- straight from their roundup: Image: linkurl:flicker:Kaibara87;http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaibara/ - 120 companies (30%) are now trading with less than 6 months of cash on hand. This represents a jump of 90% over the number of companies with less than 6 months cash on hand in 2007. (source

Image: linkurl:flicker:Kaibara87;http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaibara/

- 120 companies (30%) are now trading with less than 6 months of cash on hand. This represents a jump of 90% over the number of companies with less than 6 months cash on hand in 2007. (source: BIO) - 180 companies (45%) have less than 1 year of cash remaining. This represents a 65% jump vs. 2007. (source: BIO) - Only 10% of the 370 public US biotech companies have positive income [cash flow].(source: BIO) - By comparison with 2007, funds raised from initial public offerings in 2008 fell 97% and follow-on/secondary offerings [a second round of stock issuance after an IPO] fell 56%. Total capital raised by the industry in 2008 fell by 55% vs. 2007. (source: BioCentury). - In 2006, 32 life sciences companies raised $1.7 billion through IPOs. In 2007, 41 raised $1.9 billion. In 2008, there was only one IPO in the US, which raised $5.8 million. (source: BioWorld) - 87% of US biotech stocks lost value in 2008. - More than 80 companies laid off more than 5,000 employees in 2008, and 34 biotech companies have laid-off 10% or more of their workforce since September, 2008. (source: BioWorld, BIO)
**__Related stories:__***linkurl:How to save biotech;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/55425/
[17th February 2009]*linkurl:Sluggish economy hits biotech;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54816/
[2nd July 2008]*linkurl:The birth of biotech;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/53918/
[December 2007]