Financing in life sciences biotech companies

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,3, Pforzheim University, course: Corporate Finance, language: English, abstract: Biotechnology is a more and more important field of research in present. Publicly we are currently confronted with many questions about the rights and wrongs within this field of science, like how to handle the issue of gene manipulation or stem cell research. However, biotechnology is more than just an accumulation of ethical questions and science ¿ it is a whole industry and as such interesting for investors.

The scope of this paper is not dealing with the topics discussed in glossy magazines, but it addresses the issues of corporate finance in biotechnology. In order to get an overview of the industry from a finance point of view, the industry has to be portrayed. Hence, this is the topic of chapter two.

From the point of the investors, and therefore of the capital markets, the understandability of the segment biotechnology, and thus the availability of crucial information has to be ensured.

Consequently the transparency of the biotechnology segment and of the individual enterprises, respectively, are the topics of the third chapter. The implications of this chapter have a strong impact on the valuation of biotechnological companies and the sector as a whole ¿ a subject dealt with in chapter number four.

The fifth chapter is concerned with the core topic of this paper and identifies and analyses different sources of finance for biotechnology enterprises. Thereby it is taking the point of view of the biotechnology firms and the potential investors. The paper is showing important difficulties and advantages connected with the different approaches. Additionally the chapter also describes and evaluates the risks of different options of investors.

The paper is concluded with a summary of the findings in chapter six showing that investing into biotechnology is worth thinking about for a responsible and sophisticated investor, although the segment is a difficult field incurring many risks, however opportunities for the ¿big win¿, as well.