Blog - New Street

Blog by Our CEO and Founder, Laurence Watts.

January 14, 2026

Average Biotech Short Interest at Year End 2025

Following the success of our December 10, 2025, blog “What is the typical short interest in a U.S. public biotech,” which detailed average short interest among NBI constituent companies at YE’24 and 1H’25, we are following up with an update on the average short interest at YE’25. A reminder of where we get short information […]

January 7, 2026

How Much Does It Pay to Plan Ahead for the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference? (A Blog About the Changing Cost of Hotel Rooms in San Francisco).

The week we love to hate is almost upon us again: the 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference will be taking place from January 12 to 15, 2026, in San Francisco. Next week, everyone who’s anyone in healthcare will be pounding the sidewalks of Union Square – luckily, the current weather outlook is favorable – […]

December 31, 2025

How Much Capital is Typically Raised in a Biotech IPO, What’s The Average Biotech IPO Price, And Why Do Biotechs Sometimes Go Through Stock/Reverse Splits Before IPO?

With 2026 fast approaching, pundits are once again predicting the reopening of the biotech IPO market, following a lackluster 2025. There are some good reasons to think they may be right: (1) we now appear to be entering a downward interest-rate cycle (which has historically coincided with biotech bull markets) and (2) Bloomberg reported in […]

December 24, 2025

What is the NBI? How Important is it to Biotechs? And How Often is it Reconstituted?

What Is the NBI? The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) is the preeminent benchmark for U.S.-listed biotechs. Although its constituent companies have to be listed on Nasdaq to be included, since almost all biotechs exclusively choose to list on Nasdaq versus the NYSE, the NBI is the de facto gauge for public biotechs. Moreover, it is […]

December 17, 2025

What Is a “Short Report” and How Common Are They in Biotech?

This blog was inspired by Culper Research’s short report on Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc., (Nasdaq: PRAX) (“Praxis”) published on November 20, 2025. First, let’s define what we mean by “short report.” What is a short report? A “short report” (not to be confused with the biweekly short interest reports mandated by FINRA Rule 4560) is […]

December 10, 2025

What is the Typical Short Interest in a U.S. Public Biotech?

Biotech CEOs and CFOs tend to have a visceral reaction when they hear about the short interest in their stock. The purpose of this blog, however, is to demonstrate that not all short interest positions are equal, and to provide context for typically how shorted the average public biotech actually is. Technically, shorting a stock […]

December 3, 2025

Which Members of a Public Biotech’s Senior Leadership Team Should Attend Investor Meetings?

It’s always a little odd when a fund manager or buyside analyst arrives at an investor meeting to find him- or herself vastly outnumbered by representatives of a biotech’s management team. First, not only does it look excessive, it looks expensive. The next time you’re in a crowded investor meeting, look around and try and […]

November 26, 2025

How Should Public Biotechs Deal with Activist Investors?

Biotechs are uniquely susceptible to activist investors by virtue of the large amounts of cash they typically have on hand to fund their drug development. During market slumps, or after disappointing data, this can lead to a biotech’s market capitalization falling below the amount of cash they have on their balance sheet, making them an […]

November 19, 2025

Which Biotechs Issue Convertible Bonds, When Do They Issue Them, and Who are The Leading Convertible Bond Banks?

For de-risked biotechs, convertible bonds (converts) can be a valuable addition to the company’s capital structure. By the time this is an option, biotechs have typically completed multiple follow-on offerings but are less likely to have a debt facility in place. Converts are a financing hybrid – positioned between debt and equity – and typically […]

November 12, 2025

Understanding Public Biotechs’ Most Common SEC Filings – Part 2 (Forms 3, 4, 5, 144, DEF 14A, and Schedules TO and 14D-9)

Following last week’s blog, “Understanding Public Biotechs’ Most Common SEC Filings – Part 1 (Forms S-1, S-3, S-8, 8-K, 10-Q and 10-K),” we are continuing our review of the 13 most common SEC filings for public biotechs. This week, we will explain Forms 3, 4, 5, 144, DEF 14A, and Schedules TO and 14D-9. Form […]

November 5, 2025

Understanding Public Biotechs’ Most Common SEC Filings – Part 1 (Forms S-1, S-3, S-8, 8-K, 10-Q and 10-K)

As I’ve stated before, a public company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fulfil its minimum disclosure requirements (and are available to the general public via the SEC’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system). If you’re in an investor-facing role at a public biotech, it’s important to develop an understanding of […]

October 29, 2025

Do Public Biotechs Need a Crisis Communications Team and Plan?

Crisis communications may sound like pseudo-science, but it’s a very real thing that every public biotech should take seriously. Why? Well, a bit like health, fire or even earthquake insurance, you never quite know when you’re going to need it… but when you do, you’re very thankful you have it in place. Of course, it […]

October 22, 2025

What is a Newswire and Which Is Best for Public Biotechs?

When a biotech issues press releases, there are six principal ways those releases find their way to interested parties: This blog is principally going to talk about newswires – since they are frequently misunderstood. Let’s start with what a newswire is: A newswire is an organization whose business is to editorialize and distribute press releases. […]

October 15, 2025

Dos and Don’ts for Public Biotechs’ Websites and IR Websites

Most executives don’t realize that a public biotech’s website is actually two separate sites seamlessly rolled into one. The co-joining occurs upon IPO when the (formally) private company’s website is supplemented with predominantly automated content associated with its public listing – most often labeled in the navigation as the “Investor” pages. Concurrent with the issuance […]

October 8, 2025

How Should Public Biotechs Respond to Retail Investor Inquiries?

One of the less appreciated services that IR agencies offer biotechs is shielding them from retail investors (a.k.a. individual or non-qualified investors). By having our name and contact details at the bottom of your news releases (as well as other public communications) direct access to you can remain more or less restricted. Why do the […]

October 1, 2025

Does a Biotech Need a Bulge-Bracket Bank to IPO?

Three weeks ago, we defined “Bulge,” “Mid-Tier” and “Boutique” investments banks, based on biotech and pharma IPOs from 2022-24 raising more than $50m in gross proceeds (n=38). This week we aim to answer a different question that private company CFOs inevitably grapple with: Does my biotech need a bulge bracket bank to IPO? Remind me […]

September 24, 2025

What Guidance Should Public Biotechs Provide to “The Street”? (And When Should They Provide It?)

Why do biotechs provide guidance? If equity analysts are all so enlightened (hint: not all of them are), and if stock valuation and forecasting are such informed sciences (hint: they are not), then why do companies even need to provide guidance? Well, guidance is necessary to herd analyst price targets (and sales forecasts, among other […]

September 17, 2025

Who Are the Top Venture Capitalists in U.S. Biotech?

For any biotech, securing sufficient funding to progress the development of the company’s drug candidates is vital. For private companies this typically means a cadence of funding that starts with Seed Capital (at the company’s inception and during its early years), and progresses on to formal Series A, Series B, and even Series C (or […]

September 10, 2025

Who Are The Bulge, Mid-tier and Boutique Investment Banks Involved in Biotech IPOs?

For most biotech C-suite members, differentiating one investment bank from another can be a daunting and confusing task, not least because none shy away from telling you exactly how awesome they are (usually all are “number one” in biotech fundraising, backed up by some carefully mined industry data they will present to you). The executives […]

September 3, 2025

Should Biotechs Write Shareholder Letters?

Cutting to the chase, I’ll start by stating that shareholder letters are an archaic, unnecessary, and – perhaps most importantly – typically unread communication. When asked by clients (many of whom have public company experience dating back years, if not decades) if they should write one – or if it’s commonplace for biotechs to write […]

August 27, 2025

How Should a Public Biotech Best Announce the Departure of a C-suite Member?

Any C-suite departure from a biotech has the potential to cause consternation with analysts and investors. The central issue of concern being: what is the true reason the executive is leaving?As a high-level insider whose remuneration is intrinsically linked to a biotech’s success, a C-suite departure raises many potential red flags: Talking points for any […]

August 20, 2025

Should Biotechs List on Nasdaq or the NYSE?

Once a biotech makes the decision to go public, the company faces a number of key choices: You might think choosing where to list your company’s stock would also be an important consideration, but the punchline is that U.S. investors, analysts and bankers are entirely indifferent as to whether you pick Nasdaq or the New […]

August 13, 2025

Should Private and Public Biotechs Use Board Management Software? When Should They Start? And What Are the Benefits of Doing So?

If they haven’t already heard of board management software, my private biotech clients typically learn about it when they first engage Nasdaq regarding a potential listing. To be clear, Nasdaq’s board management software, Nasdaq Boardvantage®, is not part of the “subsidized IPO IR package” that typically accompanies a Nasdaq listing. That package includes press releases […]

August 6, 2025

When Do Biotechs Need to Consider ESG? (And How Long Does an ESG Report Take to Write and How Much Does It Cost?)

What is ESG? ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) is shorthand for the framework used by “socially responsible” investors to evaluate a company’s performance and impact, in ways that go beyond mere financial reporting. ESG acknowledges the failures of the free market (e.g. the failure of capitalism to exhaustively account for pollution as just one example), […]

July 30, 2025

What is Reg FD? (And How Guidance Cheat Sheets Can Help Avoid Selective Disclosure)

Regulation FD (the FD stands for fair disclosure) was a rule adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to clamp down on instances of insider trading and promote the full and fair disclosure of information by issuers. The rule became effective on October 23, 2000, and remains in effect to this day. From the […]

July 23, 2025

When Should a Biotech Halt Trading in its Stock?

Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) goes a long way in making sure all investors are treated equally when it comes to the dissemination of material news by a public company – which is to say that it stipulates everyone has access to new information at the same time. The regulation prohibits selective disclosures and mandates […]

July 16, 2025

When Do Newly Public Biotechs Report Their First Quarterly Financial Results? (And When Do Public Companies Ordinarily Have to Report Quarterly Financials?)

You just finished your IPO – hopefully you raised the money you needed to, and your stock traded up. Now you get to live life as a public company… which includes filing quarterly financial reports on Form 10-Q (Q1, Q2 and Q3) and Form 10-K (Q4/FY) with the SEC. No 10-Q is required for the […]

July 9, 2025

How To Work With A “Difficult” Equity Analyst (And Why Your First Clinical Trial Update as a Public Company Needs to Be Positive).

Have you ever noticed how most equity research recommendations for new biotech stocks are Buys? How can that be when we know the failure rate for drug development is so high? The answer lies with analyst self-selection. Before a group of banks brings a new biotech to market via IPO, the bankers first require a […]

July 2, 2025

Do Biotechs Need a CFO to IPO?

The question posed in the title follows from three well-known truths: Certainly, there have been times in the stock market’s boom years since 2009, when all a biotech needed was a Vice President of Finance (or similar) at the time of IPO, and a vague promise to put a CFO in place within the first […]

June 25, 2025

Who Are the Top Auditors and Lawyers for U.S. Biotech IPOs?

Biotechnology is a risky enough business already. So, when it comes to mitigating legal and accounting risk, it should be no surprise that would-be public biotechs typically gravitate towards the same household names when it comes to picking their IPO advisors. So, who are the top lawyers and auditors for U.S. biotech IPOs? Methodology We […]

June 18, 2025

What Do Good Investor Meeting Notes Look Like?

Meetings with the financial community are the lifeblood of investor relations. Whether they take place one-on-one or in a group setting, via zoom or in person, at a healthcare investor conference or during a deal- or non-deal roadshow, it’s these meetings that provide institutional investors with the confidence to take a position in a biotech’s […]

June 11, 2025

How Often Are Public Biotechs Taken Private? (And Who Are the Top Backers of, and Advisors to, Such Transactions?)

A number of clients over the past few years – when biotech valuations have been in the dumps and the number of publicly listed biotechs trading below cash has reached triple digits – have half-heartedly floated the idea of taking their company private. Typically, they see their company as undervalued or mispriced by the market, […]

June 4, 2025

How Should Biotechs Best Communicate Negative Clinical Trial Results?

Over the years, I’ve seen clients’ drug candidates fail in nearly every stage of clinical trial. That’s the nature of biotech, and what makes our industry so risky (and also so rewarding when it goes right). Typically, I sit down with my client’s management team a couple of months before an expected data readout. Over […]

May 28, 2025

Should My Biotech Consider a Reverse Merger? How Popular Are They? And Who Are the Leading Reverse Merger Advisors?

Reverse mergers are an alternative option for biotechs seeking to otherwise go public via an IPO. The process has its advantages and disadvantages. Before we begin, let me start by recounting some wisdom a banker once shared with me: “You’ve seen one reverse merger, you’ve seen one.” What did they mean? That each reverse merger […]

May 21, 2025

How Should Biotechs Communicate Their IPO to Employees (and What Are the Major Landmarks of Going Public)?

Communicating the details of a biotech’s prospective IPO to employees is all about walking a fine line. On the one hand, it’s one of the most exciting milestones your company will go through, and it should rightly be shared far and wide within any high-skilled, inclusive start-up. On the other hand, a successful IPO is […]

May 14, 2025

Who Are the Top SEC Filing Agents for Biotech IPOs?

What is a filing agent (formerly a financial printer)? In times gone by, financial printers were the owners and operators of giant printing presses that specialized in making SEC documents for their clients (think, half-as-thick-as-telephone-directory-sized S-1/registration documents etc.), often with a very quick turnaround. They also provided proofreading services and operated under strict confidentiality (which […]

May 7, 2025

What Are the Top Investor Conferences for Public U.S. Biotechs?

While the financial calendar is bursting with events that claim/aim to put biotechs in touch with potential or existing investors, there is a core list of investor conferences public biotechs should consider for their IR program, and we present them here. Excluded from the calendar below are the boondoggles (generally ski trips and wine tastings) […]

April 30, 2025

How Do “Sales Teach-ins” Fit into A Public Biotech’s IR Program? And How Often Should They Be Utilized?

A sales teach-in is one of the marketing tools public biotechs can use to spread their investment story as far and wide as possible. Consequently, they can form an important part of a company’s investor relations plan. This blog explores their usefulness and how often biotechs should utilize them. Before we begin, let’s briefly talk […]

April 23, 2025

Should Every Public Biotech Have an ATM Facility, When Should One Be Put in Place, and Which Banks Are the Top ATM Managers?

Yes, every public biotech should have an ATM facility. Until they have a drug approved, biotechs are typically in a continuous cycle of fundraising as they progress their drug candidates further and further through development. Once a biotech is listed on the stock market, however, its financing options increase (relative to when they were private), […]

April 16, 2025

Reporting the Success of an Investor and Analyst Day to a Biotech’s Management and Board.

So, you just spent three months and maybe $100,000 organizing an Investor and Analyst Day for your biotech. The day itself went without a hitch, so that means it was a success, right? Well, best practice would be to consider some key metrics coming out of the event, present your findings to all of those […]

April 9, 2025

Best Practices for a Public Biotech’s Investor and Analyst Day

Investor and Analyst Days (sometimes called Investor Days, sometimes called Analyst Days, and not to be confused with the Analyst Day you have prior to your IPO while still privately-owned) are important tools to educate the market about a biotech’s performance, prospects, or perhaps the importance of an upcoming milestone. Used correctly they can alert […]

April 2, 2025

Why Do Public Biotechs Need Whistleblower Hotlines? (And What are Best Practices in Maintaining One?)

Third party-hosted whistleblower hotlines are now standard for newly public biotechs. Indeed, they are often included in the “subsidized IR infrastructure packages” that currently accompany listings on either NASDAQ or the NYSE. As such, it’s worth taking a moment to think about why they are commonplace, and what best practice is in setting up and […]

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 […]

March 19, 2025

What Is a Greenshoe and How Does It Stabilize a Biotech’s IPO?

First time Biotech CFOs contemplating (or in the midst of) an IPO often ask me to explain what a greenshoe is and how it works. A “greenshoe” is a standard clause in an IPO underwriting agreement that allows the underwriters to sell more shares than originally contemplated as a way of stabilizing the company’s share […]

March 12, 2025

How Do Biotechs Choose Their Stock Exchange Tickers, Why Are Most Biotech Tickers Four Letters Long, and How Far Ahead of an IPO Should Tickers Be Reserved?

To make stock trading easier, every stock listed on an exchange is given a ticker (sometimes referred to as a ticker symbol or stock symbol). A ticker is a unique combination of (typically) letters that acts as shorthand to identify the underlying equity issuer. Edward Calahan is credited with inventing the ticker in 1867. Stocks […]

March 5, 2025

What’s the Difference Between a Sell-side Analyst, a Buy-side Analyst, and a Banking Analyst? (And What Are the Buy-side, Sell-side, and Chinese Walls)?

I’m pretty sure there’s a joke here. Let’s try it. A sell-side analyst, a buy-side analyst, and a banking analyst walk into a bar. The sell-side analyst recommends his favorite cocktail to the other two but orders water, because he’s not allowed to have one himself. The buy-side analyst listens to the sell-side analyst’s recommendation […]

February 26, 2025

How Do You Build a Biotech’s Equity Research Coverage? (And Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Coverage?)

Having an equity analyst take up coverage of your biotech (including their rationale, a recommendation and price target) costs money – either directly or indirectly. This is because equity analysts can be paid $1+ million a year, including bonus, depending on their prestige and the bank they work for (an analyst friend of mine gave […]

February 19, 2025

How Do Public Biotechs Know Who Owns Them? (And What Are 13F, 13D and 13G Reports, and Transfer Agents/Registrars?)

It may sound odd, but the last time a biotech knows exactly who owns them is in the brief seconds before their first trade as a public company. At that moment – were they not quivering with anticipation at imminently going public – a CEO or CFO could look at the cap table they (or […]

February 12, 2025

Should Biotechs Hire an (Internal) Investor Relations Officer or an (External) Investor Relations Agency?

As the Founder of an investor relations agency, you would be right in assuming that I have strong (and potentially biased) views to the question posed. Nevertheless, let’s talk seriously about the options available to biotechs and the choices they make. When a biotech is private, the CEO and CFO (if there is one) typically […]

February 5, 2025

Should Biotechs Hold Quarterly Earnings Calls (and What Happens if You “Set Precedent”)?

Cutting to the chase, the answer to the question posed is generally, “no,” but there are exceptions. So, let me spend the rest of this essay explaining why quarterly earnings calls are generally a bad idea for biotechs, and when those exceptions might occur. The key word and clue is embedded within the question: earnings. […]

January 29, 2025

How Many Healthcare Investor Conferences Should a Biotech Attend Each Year?

Going to healthcare conferences takes a lot of time and money. Typically, both a biotech’s CEO and CFO are in attendance for one or more days. Then there’s the amount of downtime associated with traveling to and from each conference (which is more for West Coast biotechs, given most healthcare investor conferences are on the […]

December 30, 2024

What Did U.S. Biotechs Learn from Silicon Valley Bank’s Collapse in 2023?

On Friday, March 10, 2023 – less than two years ago at the time of writing – Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed after a run on its deposit base. At the time it was the second largest bank failure in U.S history with approximately $209 billion of assets when it went under. It would become […]

December 23, 2024

What’s The Difference Between Investor Relations and Public Relations for Biotechs?

A lot of first-time biotech CEOs and CFOs confuse and conflate investor relations with public relations. So, I thought it would be good to address the issue, and then talk a little about why such confusion exists. Put simply, the difference between investor relations and public relations is their target audience and the relationships their […]

December 16, 2024

Should I Bother Going to The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Investor Conference if I’m a Small/Medium Sized Biotech?

First of all, let’s be honest: you want me to say “No”, right? The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Investor Conference is the week most people love to hate. Not only is it a super-spreader event for COVID, HMPV, RSV, flu and goodness knows what else, it’s usually marred by cold and rainy weather, with more than […]

December 9, 2024

Avoid Kitchen Sink Investor Announcements

I can count more times than I care to mention the number of times I have had to caution a management team not to “put it all in one release.” In fact, a long time ago I had a client whose CEO was convinced that the more news that was packed into a single press […]

December 2, 2024

Dates to Avoid When Making Important Investor Announcements

Recently, I was editing a clinical data release for a client of mine. The data looked great. It was a very positive release. But my stomach sank when I realized the date the prospective announcement was scheduled to go out: September 11. Now, the timing of the release clearly had no bearing on how awesome […]