CNET's Jim Kerstetter takes a look at biotech's anemic performance in the latest round of M&A deals and concludes that the investment crowd just loves the Internet more. There were 41 M&A deals in the first quarter for IT companies compared to just five in the life sciences. The reason? Kerstetter is betting that investors just feel a lot more comfortable now when they can look to an Internet play to pay off in two or three years. That kind of return is just about unheard of in the biotech space, where years of labor and high risk are a common feature of the industry. Of course, the life sciences industry as a whole attracted $9.1 billion in 862 deals last year, according to Thomson Financial and the NVCA. That's almost a third of all venture investing last year and a big increase over 2006's $7.6 billion. But that's long-term investment money, says Kerstetter. And VCs see the Web as the safer call these days. Â
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