The Westwicke Blog is designed to deliver information and insights into the ever-changing world of healthcare communications.
In January, we made three predictions about the IPO market in 2020 — but no one could have predicted the current market conditions and business ramifications as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Companies across the globe have had to change the way they do business, from transitioning to a remote workforce to making changes to their supply chain.
With coronavirus spread on the rise, we’ve only begun to see the impact in the U.S. and witness its full expression in the world. These are, without question, uncertain times. And people are actively searching for information online: “coronavirus” may be the largest Google search trend in history, and every 45 milliseconds someone searches the term “coronavirus” on Twitter. There is information overload and a serious appetite for more.
Over the past few weeks, cities, states, and businesses have begun taking measures to help slow the spread of COVID-19. For many companies, that means encouraging or requiring employees to work from home. For others, it means cancelling conferences, meetings, and investor days.
During the year (or more) before your company goes public, you’ll be in a constant state of activity, from building relationships with investors, bankers, and sell-side analysts, to engaging in test-the-waters meetings. However, once your S-1 flips public, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that you wait 15 days before your road show begins. That doesn’t mean you should sit back and relax, though. Use this checklist to maintain your company’s momentum and progress during this time.
Any company looking to attract market attention today shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a sophisticated corporate website with a high quality investor relations section.
Potential investors interested in learning more about your firm will likely visit your website before anything else, so put your best foot forward by making your IR website appealing and its pages informative and easy to navigate.
Patient advocacy is a part of public relations that has always held a special place in my heart. It’s easy for us in the healthcare industry to get so caught up in our day-to-day to-do lists that we forget the reason (namely who) we are actually working for. Patient advocacy is the piece that brings it back home. I’ve been in the industry long enough to have seen a lot of change in how healthcare companies include patients in what they’re doing, and I’m proud to say that we’ve made huge strides and are continuing to advance toward the place where patients are full partners.
Financial markets are notoriously difficult to predict. However, armed with decades of Wall Street experience, our investor relations professionals know what can create a strong IPO market — and what can close that window of opportunity.
As we enter the new year, there are several factors to consider for companies that may be considering an IPO. Based on our experience, here are our predictions for the life sciences IPO market in 2020.
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Finding out how others view your company can be intimidating, but to make sure your business is headed in the right direction, it’s necessary. A perception audit — an independent investigation into investor and analyst impressions of a company — can help you benchmark your progress over time, identify ways to improve your investor relations plan, and pinpoint any misperceptions in market views. Learn the basics of how to conduct a successful perception audit with this checklist.
In today’s world of ubiquitous, instantaneous, and interconnected information, integrated communication should be a key strategic priority for all companies. However, it is even more important in the healthcare space, especially for early stage, pre-revenue life sciences companies, where the investor story is indistinguishable from the product or technology story.
Many companies struggle to unify their message and deliver a cohesive story to the marketplace. As a consequence, the many other voices in the arena — competitors, analysts, key opinion leaders, regulators, investors, advocacy groups, the media, and others — shape the perception of your company for you.
For publicly traded healthcare companies, clinical trial data and milestone disclosure can present great opportunities as well as significant challenges.
On the path toward regulatory approval, life science and medical device company management will encounter difficult disclosure decisions surrounding clinical and regulatory events. Finding the right balance between the “duty to disclose” vs. “pressure to disclose” dilemma is not easy. If done right, such milestones are a great way to raise visibility within the investment, clinical and scientific communities. If done wrong, the consequences may be severe.
