The global healthcare industry has had a whirlwind 2018 to date, with around 36 biopharma companies undertaking IPOs in the US in the first half, rivalling 2017’s full year stock of 42 IPOs by a wide margin. A strong start to the year was followed by a short period of volatility, but it didn’t take long for the valuation rollercoaster to get itself back on track. Companies that listed in H1 saw average returns of 21%, performing better than broader stock indices despite almost half of these newly public firms delivering negative returns.
Consilium Strategic Communications also had a busy first half of 2018, successfully advising clients through a multitude of significant business activities: in addition to stock market listings and private fundraisings, we advised on communications strategies around high-profile M&A, deal activity, clinical results, and Board and management changes.
M&A
Our year began at JP Morgan’s San Francisco conference with Ablynx receiving an approach from Novo Nordisk that Ablynx believed “fundamentally undervalued” the company, a view that fellow Big Pharma Sanofi agreed with, making Ablynx an offer that valued it at €3.9 billion. The acquisition was validated when Ablynx received a positive CHMP decision in June for the use of caplacizumab to treat thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in Europe.
TiGenix, which had the first allogeneic stem cell treatment approved in Europe in March 2018 for the treatment of complex perianal fistulas in Crohn’s disease, was also involved in M&A in the first half. Takeda Pharmaceuticals made an offer to acquire the company for up to €520 million, and the transaction has since completed.
Meanwhile Horizon Discovery successfully rebuffed an offer from Abcam and appointed Terry Pizzie, its former head of commercial operations, as CEO in May.
Access to capital
Fundraising featured significantly in the first half for Consilium’s clients. Polyphor conducted a successful IPO on the SIX Swiss Exchange in May raising CHF 155 million (c. €130 million), Syncona portfolio company Autolus raised $150 million through an IPO on NASDAQ and MDxHealth completed a €36 million capital increase. Private company fundraisings included the largest ever private round of a medical device company, CMR Surgical’s £100 million Series B, while iTeos Therapeutics closed a $75 million Series B, NodThera secured a £28 million Series A, CellCentric raised $26 million and Syncona made an £85 million commitment to portfolio company Freeline Therapeutics.
Licensing deals
Transactions that Consilium has supported in the first half include Oxford BioMedica’s agreements with Bioverativ and Axovant Sciences, C4X Discovery’s licensing agreement with Indivior – worth up to $294 million – for addiction programmes, and MaxCyte’s agreement with the US NIH for sickle cell disease. In addition, Syncona expanded its global expansion in gene therapy with the foundation of two new companies, SwanBio and Orbit Biomedical.
Furthermore, and giving a strong boost to the European biotech and medical sector, Consilium was pleased to advise Andera Partners (formerly Edmond De Rothschild Investment Partners) on the closing of the largest European biotech and medtech fund with its €345 million BioDiscovery 5 fund, and the Dementia Discovery Fund on its $350 million fundraising. Consilium has also recently begun advising healthcare investor Malin on its exciting portfolio and continues to enjoy working with Syncona and Cambridge Innovation Capital, both who have had success over the period building next generation healthcare businesses.
In the first half, Consilium reached its fifth year of operations since the management buy-out from M:Communications in 2013 and we reflected over a period which has seen an extraordinary level of expansion at the firm, both in terms of new clients from across the international healthcare sector and the appointment of new key staff, in particular David Daley from GlaxoSmithKline, Olivia Manser from Stifel and Angela Gray from Cenkos, ever strengthening our unique healthcare offering.
Consilium continues to be regarded as a global leader in strategic healthcare communications and investor relations, and a leading specialist advisor in Europe and US. Looking to the future, we will continue to expand to meet the demands of the growing international healthcare industry accommodating both new geographies and sectors such as digital healthcare and AI (Consilium recently started advising Sensyne Health). The US continues to be a major focus for healthcare companies looking to raise new capital and with that in mind, Consilium will also be looking to expand its activities in that market to ensure seamless, trans-Atlantic support for our clients.
We want to thank you for your support over the past five years and we very much look forward to working closely with all clients, journalists and advisors in the future.
