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.
As the world begins to emerge from a horrific pandemic, it has become abundantly clear that dangerous infections are here to stay, and it is up to health care leaders and citizens to remain prepared and vigilant in preventing another deadly and disruptive COVID-19.
As a virtual 39th J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference begins, typically one of the biggest events of the year, biopharma dealmaking barreled ahead with five new deals Jan. 11 that could eventually hit $1.04 billion in total.
Although FDA approvals in 2020 are falling just shy of records, the amount of regulatory news this year is more than twice the amount seen only four years ago and a 41% increase over that reported in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic accounts for roughly 14% of the total, but regardless, by all accounts, 2020 has been an excessively busy year for both the biopharma industry and regulatory agencies.
Nothing much has changed since last month. This year is still, by far, the best year for financings in biopharma history, although the gap between 2020 and the next highest year has widened even more.
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.
If there are three takeaways from this year’s dealmaking efforts, they appear to be record-setting partnerships, lackluster M&As, and massive amounts of research funding via the U.S. government.
More than a third of the money raised through biopharma financings in 2020 was raised by companies developing either a therapeutic or a vaccine for COVID-19, yet completely wiping away those totals still leaves the year with $76.8 billion, a full 12% more than the next highest year.
The aging portfolios of drug companies and the emergence of China as it moves to develop more innovative therapies are two signposts from an industry in flux, according to the newly released 2020 Centre for Medicines Research (CMR) International Pharmaceutical R&D Factbook.
The number of FDA approvals tracked by BioWorld have continued their steady incline, with a total of 129 logged through July, placing 2020 at a five-year high.
