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news.The deals market for antisense RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics witnessed a record year in 2014, with a total value of about $5.6bn across 59 transactions, by far the largest deal value ever seen in this space, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.
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The company’s latest report states that this figure is almost triple that of the previous year, with just over $1.9bn raised from 62 deals in 2013, and almost double the previous high of approximately $2.9bn from 58 transactions in 2010.
Adam Dion, MS, Senior Industry Analyst for GlobalData, says three mergers and acquisitions worth $1.2bn, as well as record highs for licensing and capital raisings, helped to fuel deals in 2014.
Dion explains: "In particular, 2014 witnessed two very significant licensing deals when Celgene and Nogra Pharma struck a $1.5bn agreement for Nogra’s GED-0301 to treat Crohn’s disease, and Genzyme and Alnylam signed a $775m pact to co-develop Alnylam’s patisiran for transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis patients with familial amyloid polyneuropathy.
"The number and value of capital raisings in the antisense RNAi therapy field has been steadily increasing, with the past six years averaging about 40 deals at a combined value of just over $1.1bn per year. This peaked in 2014, when capital raisings grew considerably by $600m in 2013 to $1.9bn last year, highlighted by a $500m private placement from Isis Pharmaceuticals."
GlobalData believes these developments provided a groundswell of support for future industry advancement and expects 2015 to register another strong year for capital raisings, given that 15 deals had already been struck by the end of July, for a total value of over $1.4bn.
Dion continues: "The majority of the capital raised was from investment banks, such as JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and JMP Securities, for top RNAi therapeutics vendors, including Alnylam, Isis Pharmaceuticals, Moderna, and BioMarin.
"Projecting forward, these numbers suggest that the deals volume will be in line with historical averages, although deal values will be significantly higher than pre-2014 levels," the analyst concludes.