BIO releases first-of-its-kind study on venture funding for therapeutic innovation

US trade group the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has released a first-of-its-kind study on venture financing broken down by disease area and novelty of research over a 10-year period from 2004 to 2013.

“Since venture financing is the lifeblood of our industry, we wanted to better understand trends in venture financing over the last decade by conducting the broadest, most comprehensive study possible,” said Cartier Esham, executive vice president of emerging companies, adding: “The aim was to identify funding trends for emerging drug developers within specific therapeutic areas and across varying levels of innovation.”

The report analyzes data from four venture capital databases – Thomson Reuters, BioCentury, Elsevier, and Evaluate Pharm – to investigate investor trends, examine investment in specific therapeutic areas and indications, and identify disease areas that might be struggling for early-stage venture equity financing. The study encompasses $38 billion of venture capital into more than 1,200 US drug companies, receiving more than 2,000 rounds of funding over the last 10 years from 2004-2013.