Tom McDonald is a Partner/Managing Director and Head of Business Development. He is responsible for marketing the firm’s capabilities to potential new clients as well as the institutional investment community.
No matter how careful you are as a company, you can quickly find yourself in the center of a crisis you didn’t expect. When that crisis disrupts operations or threatens the reputation of the company, you must act swiftly but carefully.
Form 8-K, also known as an 8K, is a form that is filed by public companies to notify their shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when an unscheduled material event takes place. In other words, it’s an announcement that a major event or corporate change that may be of interest to investors, has occurred. Form 8K is known as a “current report” and is filed in addition to an annual report on Form 10-K and a quarterly report on Form 10-Q.
There’s a saying in investor relations: “You date your investment bankers, but you marry your research analysts.” Essentially, this means that a sell side analyst who covers your company will remain your partner for the long run. Investment bankers, on the other hand, work with a long list of companies and deal with jam-packed, demanding schedules. They don’t disappear after the initial public offering (IPO), but the time they can devote to your company diminishes.
Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) activity has exploded in the past two years, from 59 transactions in 2019, to 248 deals in 2020, to 308 SPACs so far in 2021. However, SPACs are not new. This type of transaction has been around for decades, continually evolving as it rises and falls in popularity.
Unlike quiet periods following an IPO, which are closely regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), end-of-quarter quiet periods are more loosely defined and not strictly regulated.
One of our clients, a recently public diagnostics company, settled an ongoing royalty dispute with a major pharmaceutical company. The settlement amount was significantly lower than what our client had accrued, resulting in nearly $750 thousand upside to their P&L in the upcoming quarter.
No one would argue that 2020 was unique and challenging for almost every industry, including healthcare. The year forced both public and private companies to reconsider many aspects of how they do business and communicate with the investment community. As we all adapted and learned, our Westwicke blog covered a variety of investor relations topics, both pandemic related and not. Below are some of the most popular blog posts we published this year.
The 2021 Westwicke / ICR Conference went virtual this year — and like many in-person events suddenly turned remote, attendees found new and unexpected opportunities for connecting with each other. Namely, the ability, finally, to be in two meetings at once.
No one could have predicted the events of 2020. However, given the strength and evolution of the healthcare and biotech industry over the past 12 months, the team at Westwicke has some ideas about how the upcoming year may unfold. Below, we provide insight into what the new year may bring.
As life science and medical device companies seek regulatory approval for their products, they will likely encounter difficult disclosure decisions around clinical and regulatory events. Clinical trial data and milestones can present great opportunities as well as significant challenges.
