During the first quarter of 2016, biopharma financing totaled $5.7 billion, a 56% decrease over the previous quarter's $13.1 billion. (Keep in mind, over half of the Q4 2015 total came from outlier Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s concurrent $7.2 billion public offering of American Depositary Shares and convertible preferred shares. [See Deal]) Not counting that transaction, Q1 2016 financing activity was relatively on par with 2015's closing quarter total ($5.9 billion) in terms of dollars raised. (See Exhibit 1.)
Early-stage financings, totaling $1.49 billion for the first quarter, edged out Q1 2016 follow-on offerings (at $1.44 billion), which had...