With record financings and now record deals in 2020, as well as a respectable value accumulated through completed mergers and acquisitions, the biopharma industry has managed to circumvent a crippling economic slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

LONDON – The COVAX initiative, set up in a bid to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, is poised for a global rollout starting in Q1 2021, after sealing agreements to access 2 billion doses of a number of different products. That puts the world on a clear pathway to ending the acute phase of the pandemic, by protecting the most vulnerable people around the world, according to GAVI, the vaccines alliance, which is spearheading COVAX.

The BioWorld Drug Developers index is currently tracking up more than 9% in value so far this month and is on target, with a handful of trading days left before the end of the year, to close up over 35% for 2020, well ahead of the general markets.

Money is flowing into gene therapy as investors have started looking favorably on the risk-reward prospects of the space. "I believe the risk has really substantially decreased as regulatory path has become clearer. There are more projects with lower risk," said Sarah Bhagat, a partner at Sofinnova Investments.

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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.