Baird Global Healthcare Report 2016-2017 Global Healthcare Report | Page 6

When we talk about watershed evolutionary moments in Life Sciences, we’re talking about specific breakthroughs that have unlocked doors and changed the way we think about conditions and diseases. the market now. For example, companies like Edison Pharmaceuticals and BERG Health are technology platforms devoted to healthcare. Then you have big-name tech and consumer product companies like Google, Apple and Nestle stepping in and investing in Biotech companies that have or will ultimately develop drugs and therapies. To a large extent, when we look at what’s driving advances in the Biotech space, it’s looking for different ways to cure diseases. This has implications for everything from perception to diagnosis to treatment. HOW ARE THESE COEVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS IMPACTING DEAL ACTIVITY IN YOUR SPACE? we think about conditions and diseases. For example, the sequencing of the human genome was a major milestone. That was more than a decade ago, and we’re still seeing significant advances from that. The associated technology enhancements are already giving way to next-generation sequencing technologies that have made sequencing work cheaper, faster and more accurate for researchers and companies. It's allowed more research to occur, impacting drug development as well as identifying patients for clinical trials, so there's also a therapeutic aspect. DAVID SCHECHNER, MANAGING DIRECTOR In many ways, we’re seeing a blurring of the lines between biology and technology, and it’s creating opportunities for new ideas and players in the Biotechnology space. There are more traditionally technology-focused companies entering 4 DAVID SCHECHNER The Biotech market is selective. Volatility kept deal volume down in 2016, and M&A deal flow has been flat, but highquality companies are still being acquired. In fact, certain subsectors, including contract research organization (CRO) and contract manufacturing organization (CMO), recently saw 10-year highs. Significant deals are still being consummated in Biotechnology as well. Over the past several years, investor interest has been high in several key areas. Gene therapy has been very attractive to investors, as have stem cells, which are unspecialized cells that can mature into different types of functional cells.