Biotechnology is a profitable business
The first profit of the biotechnology industryWeekly Pharmacy
According to the results of a study by the American company Ernst & Young in 2009, the global biotechnology industry turned a profit for the first time in the history of its development.
In particular, according to the results of 2009, the total profit of biotech companies in the United States reached $ 3.7 billion. For comparison, in 2008, the loss amounted to $ 1.8 billion. It is noteworthy that the improvement of the financial results of this industry was largely facilitated by the reduction of R&D costs. In Europe, the cumulative loss of the biotech industry has significantly decreased – from 913 million euros in 2008 to 288 million euros, which was due to savings in the field of R & D, as well as an increase in net profit of the largest companies in this industry. The profit of the Canadian biotechnology industry increased by $ 255 million. compared with 2008 and in the analyzed period, it reached $733 million. The total income of Australian joint-stock companies (whose shares are listed on the stock exchange) increased by 7% compared to the previous year to $ 3.72 billion.
According to the results of 2009, the revenues of biotech companies registered on the American Stock Exchange decreased by 9% compared to the previous year from 86.8 to 79.1 billion dollars. Moreover, the decline was mainly due to the exclusion from the list of these companies of the largest biotech manufacturer Genentech, which in 2009 was acquired by the pharmaceutical company Roche. If we conditionally isolate Genentech's income from the total amount in 2008 (to bring the basis for comparison to a single denominator), then in 2009 the total income of biotech companies would have exceeded the previous year's figure by 8%. The total income of the European biotechnology industry at the same time reached 11.9 billion euros, exceeding the previous year's figure by 8%.
In the past year, rapid growth rates of capitalization of companies in the biotechnology industry were also noted. Thus, during the analyzed period, their combined market value in the USA, Europe and Canada increased by 42% compared to 2008 and reached $ 23.2 billion.
By the end of 2009, the volume of venture capital in the United States reached $ 4.6 billion, and in Europe – 800 million euros (21% less compared to 2008).
Activity in the field of mergers and acquisitions of companies in the biotechnology industry in 2009 in the United States remained at a fairly high level, although the amount of transactions compared to previous years is relatively small (not counting the acquisition of Genentech). So, in the past year, the value of only 3 transactions exceeded $ 1 billion. It should be noted that the most active player in the field of mergers and acquisitions of the biotech business is Big Pharma. In turn, in Europe, the total value of mergers and acquisitions in the field of biotechnology decreased from 3.1 billion euros in 2008 to 1.8 billion euros in 2009.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru06.05.2010