Boston Globe: The Massachusetts biotech industry rebounded in 2024.

Jan 14, 2025

The following is an excerpt from Larry Edelman’s article that originally appeared in The Boston Globe on January 9, 2025:

Anticipation was in the air last January as biotechnology executives, analysts, and investors convened in San Francisco for the annual JPMorgan health care conference. After a couple of brutal years, the industry — a pillar of the Massachusetts economy — seemed poised for a rebound.

The optimism wasn’t misguided.

Last year turned out to be the kind of rebuilding year the biotech world needed. In Massachusetts, biotech startups benefited from improving conditions in three key areas of the business: venture capital funding, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings.

But with the big JPMorgan confab returning to the City by the Bay next week, the question is: Will the momentum carry into 2025?
“2024 showed us that the industry is on its way back up,” said Ben Bradford, head of external affairs at MassBio, the state’s biotech trade group.

Bradford is encouraged by “green shoots” on the local landscape, including the pick-up in IPOs and the nearly half-billion dollars in venture money raised by local companies in the first week of the new year. “That’s a great sign,” he said.

But the industry continues to face financial and regulatory headwinds, including high interest rates and uncertainty about President-elect Donald Trump’s health care policies. These factors explain why, despite the positive signs in Boston, biotech stocks performed poorly last year.

Read the full story on BostonGlobe.com.

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