Sure was like **** through a goose, too.
Did I not mention the $1 BILLION dollar giveaway to the pharmaceutical corporations, even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?"
Flush that money away, too, taxpayer.
"Biotech firms cutting back as capital grows scarce" by Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | December 1, 2008
The pain on Wall Street has spread to the hub of the Boston-area biotech industry, Kendall Square in Cambridge. Small and mid-size biotechnology firms are slashing jobs, cutting salaries, and shrinking their offices as it becomes increasingly difficult to raise capital.
"It's a horrific time," said Michael Greeley, a general partner with the Boston venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners, which invests in early-stage companies. "It's pain unlike any other period [biotechs] have seen."
Nationally, biotech companies raised $8.2 billion through the first nine months of the year, down 54 percent from the same period in 2007, according to Burrill & Co., a San Francisco life sciences investment firm. Though venture capital funding has slipped only slightly, companies have been able to raise far less through stock offerings, partnerships, and loans because of the turmoil roiling the financial markets.
And who are biotechs? BIG PHARAMA!
To survive, Massachusetts biotechs are taking dramatic steps to conserve their existing reserves. For instance, CombinatoRx Inc., a Cambridge biotechnology company that is years away from marketing its first drug, said recently that it will cut 80 jobs, or two-thirds of its workforce, to enable the company to operate for at least four more years without raising additional cash.
"There is no point in doing anything halfway. You have to be aggressive," said chief financial officer Robert Forrester, adding that CombinatoRx will be able to continue its core research work. "Access to capital has completely dried up, and none of us are sure when it will be available again at a price that is acceptable...."
Other examples abound.... Some may not survive the downturn.... Of the more than 80 life sciences companies in Massachusetts, at least two dozen have stocks trading at or below $1, suggesting doubts about their ability to survive....
And we gave away a BILLION dollars to them -- for NOTHING!
Still, biotechs are often said to have nine lives.... "The folks in this industry are really smart," said Robert Coughlin, president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. "They always figure out a way to survive."
Yeah, and I'll bet a BILLION DOLLAR BAILOUT from the TAXPAYER helps!!!
