A breakfast seminar hosted by Yankee Public Relations on June 9th brought to the fore the current financial crisis uniquely being experienced by biopharma companies. As noted in the Wall Street Journal in an article entitled, Cash Dries Up for Biotech Drug Firms by Keith J. Winstein on March 16, 2009, “approximately 120 of the 360 publicly traded biotechs have less than six months of cash left, compared with just 12 companies in that position a year ago, according to Burrill & Co., a venture capital concern in San Francisco that follows the industry.”
Moderated by Fred Feiner, President of Yankee Public Relations, three panels comprised of biopharma executives and key industry service providers discussed the financial crisis and strategies to address the challenges being faced. Recommendations from the first panel comprised of biopharma executives included:
- Stay focused on revenue producing opportunities
- Reduce expenditures head count
- Be prepared to provide potential investors with the right details they require, and not provide too much information that distracts them
- Explore revenue opportunities that are nearer at hand for some products to hold over the company for their other products with longer term revenue horizons
- Network through the shareholder base to find investors
- Have a strong management team in place
- Have your story down in advance of meeting your investors
- Be creative in looking for non traditional sources of funding
- Be resilient, be optimistic
- Do not assume all departments of a large strategic partner view your venture the same way or that they won’t change their mind given a change of events
This panel was comprised of Annarie Lyles, SVP Genmab, Ellen McDonald, SVP Regado,Evan Myrianthopoulos, DOR Biopharma, and Andrew Reaume, CEO Melior Discovery.
In the second panel that focused on what investors desire to hear, Jeffrey H. Nicholas, Partner in the law firm of Fox Rothschild, described the current crisis as a Darwinian period during which a good number of biotech firms are being eliminated and an excess of high quality human capital being available for a good period of time to come. He shared instances of company boards more readily prompting changes in a venture’s executive team knowing that alternatives exist due to the current availability of seasoned executives. He emphasized that deals are being made where promises of commercialization exist. This panel also included: Gene Detroyer, Five Prime Advisors, John Pennett, Amper, Politiziner & Mattia, Emilio Ragosa, Morgan Lewis and Avjit Roy, Five Prime Advisors.
