Report: Biotech gender diversity still lagging

In a report published Tuesday on gender diversity on biotech boards, recruitment firm Liftstream Ltd. (London, U.K.) said entrenched venture capitalists holding director seats in public companies may contribute to gender disparity. The report also found that companies with combined CEO and chairman positions were less likely to have diverse boards.

Liftstream's report followed board membership through YE16 in 177 biotech companies that went public during 2012-15, highlighting the IPO transition as an optimal time to diversify board seats. The firm noted that while there was minor improvement in gender diversity following an IPO, the improvement was not sustained during the study period. It found that women held 140 (11%) of 1,289 board seats in 2016. That year, 57% of the companies had at least one female board member, up from 48% in 2013...