January 27, 2017

“Venture Capital Still Flowing to Life Sciences, Stoking Innovation,” Bloomberg BNA, January 27, 2017

Companies chasing products in precision medicine and digital health are getting more venture capital love as investors see the upside of innovations in genomics and other cutting-edge technologies.

Life sciences deals with valuations exceeding $100 million doubled to 28 percent in the third quarter from 14 percent in the first quarter of 2016. That compares to technology deals with similar valuations dropping to 23 percent from 29 percent during the same period, the Cooley Venture Financing Reportfor the third quarter said.

Amid declining U.S. venture capital deal activity, health-care companies attracted $11 billion in venture funding and increased their share of total capital invested to 19 percent in 2016 from 16 percent in 2015, said Kash Kapadia, chief executive officer of consultant Digital Directive, citing PricewaterhouseCoopers Moneytree and CB Insights data.

Looking at return on investment, the Trump administration hasn’t voiced “any change in the tone or direction of IP law in the short term or even in the long term,” David Suter, a Harness, Dickey & Pierce PLC intellectual property attorney who advises life sciences companies, said Jan. 25.

Health-care life sciences IP holders have issues, “but those issues I think have more to do frankly with the more recent court decisions. I’m not sure that the executive branch is going to make a difference on that in the short term or even the long term,” Suter told Bloomberg BNA.

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