Aussie biotechs had an "outstanding" 2013

The Australian listed biotechnology sector had an “outstanding” year in 2013, with stocks on the ASX gaining an average of 53.6% during calendar 2013, according to Bioscience Managers.

Analysis from the healthcare fund manager shows that the sector significantly outperformed the All Ordinaries Index, which increased by 14.7% over the year.

Biotech stocks also more than doubled the gains of the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care Index, which grew 23.5% for the calendar year.

Despite the strong growth figures, Bioscience Managers Chief Investment Officer Matt McNamara said many retail investors are still nervous when considering life science companies.

“[But] we’ve seen a surge of new listings in the US biotech scene with large price premiums, and this sentiment is shared more among professional investors in Australia,” he said.

McNamara said Alchemia (ASX:ACL) was one of the stand-out performers of the Australian biotech sector during 2013, gaining 48.1% to increase its market cap to $60 million.

iSonea (ASX:ISN) was another rising star, with a share price increase of a whopping 379% taking the company’s market cap up to $88 million. Bionomics (ASX:BNO) meanwhile well over doubled its market cap during the year to $311 million.

Judging purely by share price index, Admedus (ASX:AHZ), the former Allied Healthcare, was the top-performing biotech. The company’s trading price surged 638% over the year to $0.155.

McNamara said Bioscience Managers is expecting another strong year for the Australian biotech sector in 2014, “with product pipelines moving closer to commercialisation and a number of big pharma licensing deals”.