2016 Biometer Shows Strength in Early and Late Stage Deals but Cracks Beneath the Surface -

The 2016 BioMeter showed strength at both ends of the drug-development spectrum, with extremely strong results for pre-clinical/discovery transactions and approved product transactions. The average BioMeter value for the entire year across all transactions reporting up-front payments and stage of development was $55.0 million, up from $48.8 million in 2015 and very close to 2014’s figure of $58.7 million. There were 114 transactions reporting up-front payments and stage of development in 2016, down from 127 transactions in 2015 but still up dramatically from 79 transactions in 2014, reflecting a healthy amount of deal activity across the industry.

Pre-clinical and discovery stage transactions achieved a record setting BioMeter value of $43.2 million in 2016, compared to $30.5 million in 2015 and $28.1 million in 2014. As in 2015, several mega transactions with BioMeter values exceeding $100 million led the way, including Celgene’s $200 million up-front payment to Agios for access to its metabolic immuno-oncology program and its $225 million up-front payment to Jounce for a separate immuno-oncology program, Baxalta’s $175 million up-front payment to Symphogen and its $105 million payment to Precision BioSciences in two more immuno-oncology transactions, Genentech’s $310 million in payments to BioNTech for mRNA-based cancer vaccines, Novartis’ $150 million up-front payment to Xencor for bi-specific immuno-oncology antibodies and other technologies, and Merck’s $200 million up-front payment to Moderna for personalized cancer vaccine technology. Excluding these seven transactions, all of which were in “hot” oncology fields, the BioMeter value for pre-clinical and discovery stage transactions was $15.7 million, down slightly from the 2015 value of $16.9 million when mega-transactions were excluded.