Credit crisis pushes biotechs to the brink

The folks at BIO are raising the alarm over the looming collapse of a large segment of the country's biotech industry. USA Today reports that industry leaders say that 40 percent of the country's small- and mid-cap developers are in danger of cratering within a year without government assistance.

"We're at the most difficult time in the history of our industry," says BIO chief James Greenwood, who says that more than a quarter of 370 public biotech companies valued at less than $1 billion had less than six months of operating capital in the bank. BIO is considering asking lawmakers for tax breaks for research as well as relief on capital gains taxes for investors who back biotech.

According to Dow Jones VentureSource, venture funding for biotech companies plunged 17 percent in the third quarter. And analysts are predicting a wave of mergers and bankruptcies as the weakest developers succumb to the credit crunch.

- read the article from USA Today

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