After bottoming out at the end of May, BioWorld’s Drug Developers Index is making a slow, tedious climb back upwards. The index was down 23.18% for the year as of July 27, which is better than where it was at the end of each of the three prior months. It is following the same curve as the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which are down by 16.47% and 11.39%, respectively.

The U.S. FDA has approved fewer drugs and biologics in the first half of 2022 than in each of the five prior years and only one new molecular entity has received clearance since the end of May. While the volume of regulatory news is slightly down from last year, FDA approvals are showing a much deeper decline of 19.8%.

As neurological disease stocks begin to move in the right direction, and a potential U.S. FDA approval nears for a major depressive disease drug, shares are still down by 11.68% this year. BioWorld’s Neurological Diseases Index is following a similar path as the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI), which hit bottom at the end of May and has begun to climb since then. Still, NBI is down 15.92% this year, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 12.41%.

There is no drug that will halt the inevitable process of getting older each year. But biopharmaceutical research can have a positive impact on preventing diseases that come with aging, thereby extending life for the masses, and more importantly, extending quality of life. Part one of BioWorld’s multipart series on extending the human lifespan looks at the increasing development and investment in the space.