On the occasion of the IATI BIOMED conference that will open this morning, the Association of Advanced Industries publishes a summary report for the year 2012 of the biomed industry in Israel * In the last year, life sciences companies raised a record amount of 503 million dollars - an increase of 23% compared to 409 million dollars compared to 2011 * The chairmen of the conference d Rabbi Bnei Zaevi and Ruti Alon: "We believe that the Israeli biomed industry is facing a decade of breakthroughs"
After a decade of significant growth, the Israeli life sciences industry is preparing for a decade of breakthroughs:
According to the databases of the research company IVC and IATI, in the last decade there has been a significant increase in the number of life science companies and today there are approximately 920 companies operating in Israel, with 67% (614) of them being established in the last decade, at an average rate of 61 new companies per year. 33% (308) of the companies were established in the last five years.
According to the annual report of the research company IVC in collaboration with the consulting company KPMG, 26% of the total amount raised for technology companies in Israel in 2012 was for the field of life sciences.
135 life sciences companies raised $503 million - a record amount for the industry, an increase of 23% compared to $409 million in 2011, and 44% compared to the $350 million raised in 2010.
Most of the capital (about 55%) invested in life science companies in Israel flowed into the medical device companies. This is the opposite of the trend observed in the US and Europe, where 60% of the capital is invested in biopharma companies and 40% in medical device companies.
In the analysis of the investments in the segmentation of the stages of growth, it can be seen that in contrast to the high-tech industry in Israel, where only 30% to 40% of the investments are directed to companies in the seed stages and in the early stages, in the life sciences industry the rate is 50% to 70% that flow to companies in the early stages (seed, early stage).
Since 2005, 23 Israeli life sciences companies have been acquired, for an amount greater than 40 million dollars, the cumulative amount of the purchases amounts to 3.8 billion dollars, excluding financial events such as the completion of milestones or receiving royalties.
According to the annual report (2012) of the consulting company PWC, the year 2012 was a record year for exits in life sciences companies -
Nine Israeli life sciences companies were acquired for a total amount of 1.276 billion dollars, this is more than 2.5 times the total amount of exits in 2011, and even more compared to the record of 2008.
Summarizing all the exits of life sciences companies since 2003 (acquisition, merger or issuance) and deducting all the exits smaller than 10 million dollars, and Syneron which is exceptional in the multiplier on the investment and in the time it took to reach the exit, the total amount invested on average in each company until the exit was 32.1 million dollar. The average exit return was $151.4 million. The average multiplier is 12.
On average, it took companies eight years to reach the exit event since the first institutional investment.
The chairpersons of the conference are Dr. Benny Zaevi, a partner in the DFJ Foundation and co-chairman of the IATI, and Ruth Alon, a partner in the Pitango Foundation:
There is reason for optimism regarding the future of life sciences in Israel. The industry is mature and has reached a stage where there is an impressive cluster of companies that are in advanced clinical stages, and companies that are entering the commercialization stage. There is an increase in the number of experienced entrepreneurs who are setting up a second and third venture and recently we are witnessing a growing interest from multinational companies who see Israel as an attractive destination for establishing an international R&D center.
Identity card - the biomed field in Israel
- The Israeli life sciences industry is clearly inclined towards medical devices with 465 companies in this subfield (60%).
- The biotech sector is the second largest with 134 companies (17%) and the pharmaceutical sector is the third largest with 85 companies (11%) (see Table 9). 55 companies (7%) are engaged in the field of Health IT.
- Of the 774 life sciences companies that exist and are active in the IATI database, which is updated and can be analyzed, 39% of the companies (302) are in the sales phase, most of them in the field of medical devices.
- 14% of life sciences companies (106) are in the SEED phase, 13% (102) are in the preclinical phase and 25% (192) companies are in the clinical trials phase.
- The field of life sciences represents about 50% of civilian research activity in 7 universities, 10 research institutes and 5 medical schools.
- Israel ranks highest in the world in terms of the number of scientists per capita - (145 scientists for every 10,000 citizens) and 60% of scientific publications in Israel are in the fields of life sciences.
- In 2012, the Office of the Chief Scientist invested $106 million in life science companies, about 25% of its total investments. This is a similar amount compared to the previous years: 26% in 2010 and 24% in 2011.
- 12 of the 24 technological incubators in Israel operate in the fields of life sciences.
- Half of the 150 companies active in the incubator program are companies in the fields of life sciences. Of this, 42% are companies in the field of medical devices and 8% are pharma and biotech companies.
- The achievements of the Israeli life sciences industry are also reflected in an impressive number of patents per capita - the total number of patents in the field of life sciences as a percentage of the total number of patents registered in Israel places Israel in first place in the world.
