While BioWorld’s Infectious Disease Index showed a huge 144% climb in 2020, an enthusiastic response toward defeating the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the index dropped significantly in early 2021 and spent most of the year spiking up and down, reacting abruptly to the promises of herd immunity and the threats of vaccine-resistant variants.

The amount of clinical data reported in January so far is currently 30% below the amount reported during the same month last year, which was the slowest month of 2021.

In one of the most extraordinary years for med-tech mergers and acquisitions, 2021 is the culmination of a snowballing interest in maturing digital technologies amid mounting COVID-19 pandemic problems and uncertain futures. Societal lockdowns in 2020 boosted notice of telehealth, testing and remote monitoring devices, but that notice ramped up even more in 2021, not only as new SARs-CoV-2 variants emerged, but as businesses sought innovative ways of delivering their products.

While med-tech financings in 2021 fell about 17% below the amount raised in 2020, the industry still collected $49.26 billion, significantly more than each of the two previous years, and driven primarily by digital health and diagnostic technologies.