Private and venture capital investing on the up for biotech, says new report

Strong medium-term prospects for the biotechnology industry areunderpinning unprecedented private equity and venture capital interest in the sector and promise to attract more institutional investors in the short term, according to a new study from AltAssets, a division of Almeida Capital, entitled Delivering on Discovery - Private Equity Investing in Biotechnology.

The report predicts further growth in the number of private equity participants in the market, but says this will not be accompanied "by the sort of loss of investment discipline experienced in other previously 'hot' venture sectors," such as the dot.com companies.

The biotechnology industry has reached an inflexion point, notes AltAssets, and the sector is now on the cusp of delivering on its long-held commercial promise. Investment activity, product development activities and the sheer scale of the leading biotechnology firms are all sufficiently advanced to warrant optimism for the future.