Guest post by Patricia Reilly, M.S., Head of Intelligence Alliances and Unification, Pharma Intelligence and Nancy Dvorin, Executive Editor, In Vivo
Cell and gene therapies often get the lion’s share of news coverage in regenerative medicine as these advanced treatments make giant strides each year towards curing devastating diseases. Tissue regeneration and tissue engineering are also a vibrant and overlapping portion of the regenerative medicine sector. Companies in this space have developed products and platforms to replace cells lost to injury, often by enhancing wound angiogenesis, blood vessel development and matrix restoration. We analyzed deal trends over the past five years, from 2012 to 2016, to see how tissue regeneration companies are faring.
Partnerships were by far the most prevalent deal type over the past five years, with 2016 having the strongest showing. A closer look reveals a significant dip in the number of partnerships in 2015 after a steady rise between 2012 and 2014.
In financing deals, public offerings (either initial or secondary) slowly increased in number over the past five years while private placements remained steady. Acquisitions have also been steady over the past five years.
Looking at more recent funding efforts, several companies raised money through public offerings in 2016, including secondary offerings for Zimmer Biomet ($965.4 million) Organova ($25 million), AxoGen ($20.1 million) and Vericel ($19.6 million). CollPlant raised $25 million in an IPO. 2016 also saw a number of significant private placements including Organogenesis, which raised $25 million, Acelity, which raised $190 million, and several other smaller offerings.
Not surprisingly, the highest number of partnership deals occurred among companies working in the dermatology therapeutic area, followed by the musculoskeletal area. More deals were announced or completed in 2016 in these two areas than any other previous year.
The five companies with the highest number of products in their pipeline are Integra LifeSciences Holding Corporation, Anika Therapeutics, Cytori Therapeutics, Osiris Therapeutics and Derma Sciences.
As the number of elderly patients continues to rise, solutions for aging muscles, joint pain and osteoarthritis, wound repair, skin issues and a number of other related therapeutic indications are certainly key areas of research. We will continue to follow these companies as they play an important role in the evolution of regenerative medicine and advanced therapies.