Biotech IPOs all but dead.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Waiting for the next 'window'

The outlook seems grim for Puget Sound biotechnology and medical device companies that are hoping to go public before the end of the year, although one local company signaled last week that it will take the plunge.

Bothell-based Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc. filed for a proposed $48 million initial public offering, becoming part of a meager collection in an industry now resting up from last year's stock-selling binge.

"I don't think that it's a very good time to be considering going public," said Chad Waite, a partner at Kirkland-based OVP Venture Partners and a longtime investor in local biotechnology companies. 'The market is really ugly right now."

So far, only four biotech and medical device companies nationwide -- among them Bothell-based Seattle Genetics Inc. -- have …