Baxter International Inc.’s fourth quarter earnings per share came in well below consensus and the company lowered expectations for 2023’s first quarter and full-year performance citing “ongoing macroeconomic challenges and supply chain headwinds.” Topline results that beat expectations provided cold comfort to investors who saw the stock price drop 12% following the release of the quarterly report. Baxter also provided additional details on the restructuring including limited layoffs along with the quarterly update.

The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) found in a new study that 77% of clinical programs focused on pain therapeutics five years ago are no longer active and that financings of companies working in the space are lackluster at best. Meanwhile, oncology companies, targeting an overall smaller market, have raised huge sums of venture capital money, $9.7 billion in 2021 vs. pain and addiction companies’ $228 million.

Starting out the year slow, biopharma financings are about 22% below where they were at the end of January last year, and they are well behind the first month of the previous two years as well, suggesting company executives may need to continue to prioritize costly programs as resources are depleted – at least for the near future.