While phase I-III clinical trial data continue to rise above the same timeframe in 2020, the gap is closing and a smaller percentage of this year’s reports are focused on the COVID-19 pandemic.
The volume of phase I-III clinical trial data so far in 2021 is a full 26% more than it was by this point last year, yet the proportion of news focused on the COVID-19 pandemic continues at much the same rate.
BioWorld tracked a total of 295 phase I, II and III clinical news items in January, a rise of 39% compared with the number recorded during the pre-pandemic month of January 2020.
BioWorld tracked a total of 295 phase I, II and III clinical news items in January, a rise of 39% compared with the number recorded during the pre-pandemic month of January 2020.
Clinical and regulatory data reported in 2020 are up 24% and 47%, respectively, over the prior year, proving to be the busiest 12 months on record for the biopharma industry, in spite of, or perhaps because of, a deadly global pandemic.
For the first time since August, the volume of clinical data has dipped, with 388 items of phase I, II and III data in November, a 4% decrease compared with the prior month. Again, 17% of the entries during the month are focused on vaccines and therapeutics to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The same percentage held true in October. The pandemic accounted for 16% of the clinical data in September, 15% in August and 16% in July.
As clinical trials, halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, begin to resume and biopharma companies find workarounds to keep the research going, activity in phase I, II and III studies picked up by more than 40% in September.
The volume of clinical data reported throughout the summer has continued to fall, with only 267 items collected in August, a drop of 10% from July and the lowest amount within the last five months.
While the volume of clinical data in July dipped below previous pandemic months, the amount of news focused on therapeutics or vaccines for COVID-19 is climbing, representing about 16% of BioWorld’s database entries during the month.
