After a two-year IPO drought, Cumberland Pharma ended the biotech dry spell earlier this year when it launched a successful IPO. Since then, six companies have pulled off what once seemed to be an impossible feat. So BNet Pharma asked bankers and venture capitalists who may be the next biotech IPO contenders. Here's a run-down of their picks.
- Portola Pharmaceuticals - A 2009 Fierce 15 company, Portola has raised more than $200 million in VC. The company boasts two promising Phase II drug candidates along with mega-deals with Merck and Novartis.
- Pacific Biosciences - Another of this year's Fierce 15 winners, Pacific Biosciences made a splash after running in stealth mode for several years. In two years time PacBio says it will have new instruments on the market that will sequence DNA dramatically faster and at a far lower cost than today's products
- Regulus Therapeutics - Two years ago, Isis Pharmaceuticals and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals--two leaders in RNA--got together to form Regulus Therapeutics, which is developing new drugs based on micro-RNA. Isis and Alnylam recently pitched in to raise a $20 million Series A round of financing for Regulus.
- Concert Pharmaceuticals - Concert, which is developing technology that could positively influence efficacy and side effect profiles of drugs, made the 2008 Fierce 15 list. Over the summer GlaxoSmithKline inked a potential $1 billion deal with Concert for several programs, including CTP-518, a protease inhibitor for the treatment of HIV expected to enter Phase I clinical trials.
- MacroGenics - MacroGenics has an impressive pipeline of autoimmune, cancer and infectious disease products. Last year the company picked up $25 million in VC to help it advance the cancer stem cell technology the company acquired in its buyout of Raven Biotechnologies.
- read the BNet article