BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

Despite pullback, Germany looks robust

August 28, 2000 7:00 AM UTC

The recent decline in German biotech stocks has prompted some industry watchers to suggest there is a slowing of the biotech fervor in Germany. While it is true that German biotech shares have fallen 52 percent since their peak in mid-March, over the past 12 months they have done better than their counterparts in the U.S. and U.K. And the performance of the recent IPO by Lion Bioscience (NMarkt:LIO; LEON) suggests the appetite is still there for new opportunities (see BioCentury, Aug. 14).

Over the past year, 12 publicly traded German companies are up 202 percent compared to the U.S.-dominated BioCentury 100 index and the BioCentury London index, which are up 132 percent and 160 percent, respectively. Indeed at their peak, biotech stocks listed on the Neuer Markt were up 241 percent since January compared with peaks of 120 percent for the BioCentury 100 and 164 percent for the BioCentury London benchmark...