The U.S. FDA approved eight drugs in January 2024, down from 10 approvals the previous January and also down from December’s 21 FDA greenlights. Approvals of new molecular entities also continued to decline, going from six in November to three in December, to one in the first month of 2024.

Concluding 2023 on a strong note, the BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index ended the year up 11.62%, surpassing the end of November increase of 3.37%. BBI kicked off the new year with a solid 4.77% increase by January’s end.

In 2023, med-tech firms garnered a total of $17.68 billion in funding, marking a 53.85% decline from the $38.31 billion raised in 2022 and ranking as the lowest financing year documented by BioWorld MedTech. This decrease follows a 22.3% dip from 2021’s $49.3 billion. The top-value year in med-tech financings remains 2020, recording $59.7 billion, followed by 2021’s $49.3 billion.

Biopharma deals in January reached $26.97 billion, marking the sixth-highest month in BioWorld’s records going back to 2016. It is an increase of nearly 25% from the $21.64 billion in deals in January 2023 and also is up from December. Value the first month of the year is more than 2023’s average monthly value of $18.14 billion, and likewise more than the average monthly value of any previous year.