BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

Pipeline fill

October 13, 1997 7:00 AM UTC

Even though the industry raised $258 million last week, there's no shortage of financings in the pipeline. Bankers were tripping over themselves to get to the SEC, filing $308.2 million in biotech financings. The proposed deals include three IPOs ( Gene Logic , Cell Pathways and Dura's Spiros Development Corp II, see below). Last week's quarter-billion dollar performance ranks fifth in weekly takes for the industry this year.

The sector's strength was highlighted by the speed at which deals were closing. Coulter's follow-on sold in 12 days and was upped by 750,000 shares. Intelligent Polymers International (INP.U), a Biovail (BVF) spin-off, banked $65 million in its IPO after filing on Sept. 17(see below).NEW TO MARKET: Intelligent Polymers sold 3.25 million units at $20. BVF formed INP.U in July to develop once-daily controlled or sustained release formulations of marketed drugs. Getting the story in front of investors who knew BVF's story helped speed the close, said BVF CFO Bob Podruzny, including investors in Switzerland, France and England...