More Videos
SPECIAL REPORT
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- Hewlett-Packard Profit Rises, Matches Guidance
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- The Social Media Gaming Threat
- Holiday Travel Outlook
- Lyondell Urged to Consider Reliance Takeover Offer
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- HP's Mark Hurd
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- 9 Stocks That Play Rising Water Costs: Strategists
- Weis' Deal Likely Won't Change Big Money Contracts
- Gold Prices Can Double in 3 Years: Portfolio Manager
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Apple Comes to AT&T's Rescue
- More Consumers Giving 'Black Friday' the Cold Shoulder
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- Tuesday's Heavy Dose of Data to Dictate 'Risk' Behavior
- Hewlett-Packard Earnings Rise, Match Guidance
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- Cramer: What Monday’s Housing Number Really Means
- Why the Dollar Will Likely Stay Weak for Some Time
- Bear, Lehman Execs Weren't Wiped Out by Crisis: Study
- How Real Estate Investors Skew Housing's Reality
PHARMA'S MARKET VIDEO
Cholesterol Drug Battle: Niaspan vs. Zetia 
16 Nov 2009Cardiologist Grades Cholesterol Drug Study 16 Nov 2009
Merck's Cholesterol Drugs Under Pressure 16 Nov 2009
Cholesterol Drug Battle: Merck vs. Abbott Labs 16 Nov 2009
Cholesterol Drug Battle 16 Nov 2009
Novo Nordisk CEO on Diabetes Epidemic 13 Nov 2009
RSS FEED
Pharma's Market
Text Size 
 |
A BIO spokesperson says the number of investors attending this year is about even with last year, but the number of corporate representatives is down about 10 percent. Not surprising, given the cash crunch many of these little companies find themselves in.
In a "First on CNBC" interview on "Squawk Box" this morning, BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood said that 50 percent of publicly-traded biotechs have less than a year's worth of cash left and 25 percent have less than a six-month supply on hand.
And that makes them less attractive to investors.
Thomson Reuters surveyed more than 80 people at firms that have a total of $76 billion invested in biotech. And 68 percent of them said they won't invest in a company that has less than six months' cash, 38 percent of the respondents said they'd avoid firms that have less than a year's supply of money.
One biopharma fund manager recently told me that in good times and bad, it's always about the money. How much does a company have? How quickly is it burning through it? And on what experimental products is it spending the money?
That approach appears to be gaining popularity these days. In the Thomson Reuters poll, 68 percent of the investors said a company's cash position is "much (their emphasis) more important" than it used to be.
BIO tried to get the sector a tax break in the stimulus package, but it wasn't successful. It will try again.
In the meantime, cash-strapped biotechs are cutting expenses and losing leverage in their attempts to negotiate lucrative deals with bigger, cash-rich companies.
That's good news for big pharma which may now have the upper hand in what's fast-becoming a buyer's market.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes