Valuation in Life Sciences: A Practical Guide

As a biotech founder with a strong math background, I found this text a really compelling discussion of quantitative methods for valuating life science companies. The methods are a great improvement over (or at least strong adjunct to ) the common approach of simply looking at comparable stage companies or applying a multiple.The only real criticism I have is that the text is poorly edited. It's surprising given that the book is in its third edition. There aren't really typos, but there are pretty common errors in language that make key points difficult to parse. This is an easy fix, and as long as you're a careful reader, doesn't seriously detract from a really solid text.

This book goes into depth and provides mathematical formulas to price the value of biotechnical companies. We used this to make tons of money by investing in undervalued companies that later rose in value. It provides all the parameters to take into account EVERY variable possible. The formulas are somewhat complex, but can easily be deciphered by someone knowledgeable in mathematics or by using a computer program to put the variable in and then it's easy to value any company. Biotechnical companies highly fluctuate in price and value, so this book really gave us an edge because it's those fluctuations that enable you to use to your advantage IF you have an edge such as this book provides.

It's useful in valuing intangible asset.

Got this as a gift for someone in the field who had previously expressed a desire to own it but was not happy with the prices he found in Canada. Great price for an important reference.

Easy for beginners and complicated for experts. Great job, probably the best in this field of knowledge.

Very glad I bought this book. Excellent insight into the challenges of valuating biotech ventures.

A money grab - This book is just reorganized information from college textbooks, with zero value add in the way of explanation or simplified examples. Get 10 pages in and you’ll be knee deep in equations with little help or coaching from the author. If you aren’t well up on the learning curve already, forget it.

If you perform valuation in the life sciences, this is the book to get. I had an earlier edition, which I loaned to someone, never to be seen again. I bought a fresh copy mainly to refresh my memory on a few points. I wound up reading the entire book again. It's a good text for both beginners and advanced financial modelers.

I have bought all main recent books on pharma valuation (this one, Cook forecasting for the pharmaceutical, Kegan biotech valuation, David Biotech forecasting & valuation). This one contains ALL the information necessary for valuation of a new drug development project by either Net Present Value or Real Options plus correct algorithms for such valuation. It is very clearly explained at an appropriate level and balance between simplicity and comprehension. Not too complex. The only weakness is that it could be better organized: the information is a bit scattered throughout the book. For instance if you want to compute the projected cash flows from expenses or from revenues- sales there is not one single chapter about it but you will have to flip through the book to assemble and organize information from parameters to be inputed to method algorithm.

If Jesus was a biotech financial analyst, his students would have write this very book.