March 26, 2025

As a U.S. Biotech, What Proportion of My Time Should I Spend Marketing to Investors in Europe? (Or Asia?)

Every year around November (for reasons that will soon become apparent), I typically get asked by more than one client just how much time a U.S. biotech should spend marketing to European investors.

The answer can vary, but the bottom line is that the average U.S. biotech is typically too small and too illiquid to attract much of a European following above 5-10% of its outstanding equity. Accordingly, marketing to European investors should be limited to around 5-10% of your time.

Think about it – biotechs are risky enough. Add to that a 5–10-hour time difference (depending on the locations of the investing fund and listed biotech), language barriers, and potentially even currency risk, and an investment becomes prohibitive.

Because of the above, many European funds have dedicated stateside arms to invest in the U.S. biotechnology market, and we tend to treat these as locals.

Jefferies London

Given this, the average U.S. biotech typically fulfills its (self-imposed) European marketing requirements by attending the Jefferies London Healthcare Conference (if they are fortunate enough to be invited), which at the time of writing takes place the week before Thanksgiving.

I’ve heard myself more than once describe it to clients as “the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference of Europe”, and it attracts all the important funds from the UK, France, Sweden, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Germany and others.

Bank of America also has a healthcare conference in London each year, which at the time of writing typically takes place in September, but this is focused on European companies with some Big Pharma thrown in. Don’t expect to get an invite to this conference if you’re a U.S. biotech.

Over the years, clients of mine who have been covered by Jefferies research have tended to be invited to “Jefferies London” as a matter of course (in addition to the Jefferies’ Global Healthcare Conference held in New York each June).

European Non-Deal Road Shows

If you are not banked by Jefferies, another option for fulfilling your European market requirements could be a non-deal road show (NDR) but be warned that this is time inefficient as it involves making consecutive day trips to Geneva, Amsterdam, Zurich, London etc., since travel requires going to their offices rather than meeting them at a conference hotel.

In my experience the best banks for organizing European NDRs have typically been TD Cowen and UBS – though the latter seems to be more focused on its private wealth/bank network than on institutional meetings.

Also worth consideration would be a virtual non-deal roadshow via Zoom or Teams, perhaps organized by one of the two banks I mentioned, which could be spread out over a number of U.S. mornings given the time difference and be a much more efficient use of management’s time.

Sometimes, a CEO or CFO will ask, “Should we tag on a European non-deal road show to our attendance at Jefferies London?”

My answer is typically, “No.”

In my opinion, U.S. biotechs should avoid cannibalizing their 1:1s at Jefferies London (which is far more convenient for their company) by offering 1:1s in the European institutional investor’s home country and city.

Also, if you’re attending Jefferies London, remember that you don’t need to stay for the whole conference. Think about restricting your 1:1 availability to the day you present (or your arrival day and the day you present) to make the most efficient use of your time.

Lastly, in answer to the second question posed in the title, U.S. biotechs without a funding history that includes material participation from Asia should spend even less time marketing there than in Europe. Again, the biggest Asian accounts have stateside arms to invest in the U.S. biotechnology market and as such are treated like locals.