U.S. capital markets were relatively flat for health IT and related sectors during the first half of 2016, according to a report from Healthcare Growth Partners, which provides investment banking and advisory services.
It counted197 venture capital deals, compared with 215 transactions during the first half of 2015. Deal sizes also were down.
The report also tracked stock indices for seven sectors when evaluating the performance of publicly traded companies: health IT, HIT services, pharmacy benefit management, healthcare services, contract research organizations, payers and payer services.
The highest performers were HIT services, up 14.1 percent, and payer services, which rose 10.7 percent. Contract research organizations, down 8.8 percent, and HIT, off 5.6 percent, did the worst.
Three health IT initial public offerings were completed in the first half of 2016, compared to eight in 2015.
In the overall market, $1.6 trillion in deals were announced in the first half of the year, down 19 percent from 2015.
Some cite uncertainty related to the election of a new president in the United States, the Brexit fallout and concerns about deals being blocked by U.S. regulators as reasons for a slowdown in acquisitions.
A recent midyear report from StartUPHealth, however, pointed to a booming pace of investment for seed and Series A rounds in digital health startups. It called the first half of 2016 the strongest on record, with $3.9 billion invested.
To learn more:
- here's the report (.pdf)