When the economic crisis reached its peak in 2009, biotech companies were hit hard. We buried 16 developers in our first annual Biotech Graveyard list last year, and while that number has dropped significantly in 2010, there were still eight biotechs that simply couldn't find a buyer or the money necessary to continue their run. Several of these developers struggled for years with solvency problems until finally their luck run out, while others were never able to recover from disappointing clinical trial results.
The good news here is that half as many companies folded as in 2009. Previously biotechs were closing at an alarming pace early last year. But the trend began to slow during the latter months of 2009, and 2010 bankruptcies and liquidations seemed few and far between. It's an encouraging sign that many small developers have weathered the storm. See the list of the companies that didn't make it.