Rare disease companies already trading publicly also took advantage of the welcoming capital markets. Overall, public rare disease companies (excluding IPOs) raised a total of $9.7 billion in equity financings, up from $6.1 billion in 2019. Equity fundings by rare disease companies in 2020 represented nearly a quarter of the total $41.2 billion raised by therapeutics companies across the biotech sector.
Rare drug developers raised $1.8 billion in debt in 2020, down from the $2.2 billion raised in debt offerings in 2019. Three of the offerings in 2020—a $600 million convertible debt from BioMarin Pharmaceutical, a $400 million debt offering from Amicus Therapeutics, and a $425 million convertible offering from BridgeBio accounted for 77 percent of the total.
Rare disease companies developing therapies for endocrine/metabolic disorders, neurologic, and hematologic diseases accounted for $5 billion or 43 percent of the total equity and debt raised by these companies in 2020. Companies developing gene therapies or gene editing raised a total of $4.5 billion in public equity and debt, 39 percent of the total raised.
OVERVIEW
VENTURE FUNDINGS
IPOS
PUBLIC DEBT AND EQUITY
PARTNERING
M&A

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