A growing line at the feeding trough
Five North American biotechnology companies elected to take advantage of the current bio-bull market to sell follow-on offerings. If completed as proposed, BioCryst (BCRX), Biovail (BVF), Ilex (ILXO), ImClone (IMCL), and ViroPharma (VPHM) collectively would gobble up $488.9 million. That money would be on top of Pharmacyclic's $89.1 million follow-on that closed on Friday (see B14) and several other big money deals that closed the week prior, including $150 million worth of convertible notes sold by Affymetrix (AFFX) and a $45 million private placement by Guilford (GLFD).
PCYC's deal strength bodes well for additional biotech paper. The company, which is developing therapies for cancer, cardiovascular disease and retinal disorders, upped the deal by 550,000 shares to sell 2.3 million shares at $38.75, $11.75 above its $27 price prior to filing. ...