Although private venture equity provided a short bridge to public markets in early times, Rodell noted that venture and other private equity investments are relatively much larger and play an increasing role in today's financing of new companies.

Also, public company investors have been increasingly specialized, and large pharmaceutical companies have had limited success in developing new products internally and have increasingly relied on in-licensing and M&A activities for new products, he stressed.

"Because of increased costs and limited public markets, small biotech companies have increasingly relied on private equity and partnering," he said.

"The limited productivity of pharma R&D provides larger opportunities for biotech partnering," he added.

Yet, Rodell indicated that the Asian region has now become a major player in financing worldwide and evolved into much larger and more diverse markets.

"Many of the largest opportunities for biotech and pharma will be in Asia," he predicted.