While 2020 was clearly a busier year for grants and nonprofit deals with biopharma companies, pandemic efforts continue to drive the activity in these two areas. Through mid-July, there have been 204 grants valued at $1.75 billion, and 516 bio/nonprofit deals worth more than $8 billion, up from $4.66 billion only a month ago.
While the number of biopharma’s nonprofit deals and grants, as well as their values, have dropped by more than 20% compared with last year, almost 71% of the combined funds are targeting COVID-19 therapeutics, vaccines and other pandemic efforts.
More than a quarter of all biopharma/nonprofit deals and grant awards in 2021, as well as 79% of the disclosed funding, targets the COVID-19 pandemic, following a trend that began in the early months of last year as SARS-CoV-2 reared its ugly head.
About 91% of funds recorded in 2020 for all biopharma collaborations with nonprofit entities and 75% of all grant money went directly to therapeutic and vaccine efforts to fight COVID-19. BioWorld has tracked 912 bio/nonprofit deals worth $19.86 billion and 658 grants awarded to the industry and valued at $12.98 billion for a combined total this year of 1,570 and $32.84 billion.
COVID-19 continues to dominate biopharma nonprofit collaborations and grants in 2020, with the pandemic accounting for 85% of projected values reported this year, most of which have posted since the start of July.
Without a doubt, efforts to fight COVID-19 have dominated the flow of money into the biopharma industry through nonprofit collaborations and grants, accounting for 87% and 85% of the 2020 totals, respectively. Out of the 590 bio/nonprofit deals tracked by BioWorld this year, a total of $7.18 billion has been recorded, but 283 deals valued at $6.24 billion are directly focused on providing therapies for the pandemic.
Few would dispute that the best way to find innovative solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic is through industry, academia and government working together. BioWorld data indicate that more than 45% of the biopharma deals with nonprofit entities (bio/nonprofit) in 2020 are indeed focused on fighting the globally-disruptive SARS-CoV-2 virus.
