Personalized medicine, also referred to as precision or targeted medicine, continues to have a significant impact on the treatment of diseases, particularly cancer. Over the past decade or so there has been a dramatic surge in research and development investments in this field. According to the Washington-based Personalized Medicine Coalition, there are about 286 such medicines on the market currently, a number that has more than doubled from the 132 that were available in 2016, representing the largest four-year increase since the PMC began tracking personalized therapies back in 2008.
If there are three takeaways from this year’s dealmaking efforts, they appear to be record-setting partnerships, lackluster M&As, and massive amounts of research funding via the U.S. government.
The combined total of biopharma nonprofit collaborations and grants in 2020 has reached about $24 billion, more than three times the amount recorded for 2019.
More than a third of the money raised through biopharma financings in 2020 was raised by companies developing either a therapeutic or a vaccine for COVID-19, yet completely wiping away those totals still leaves the year with $76.8 billion, a full 12% more than the next highest year.
Multiple companies have had their FDA reviews put on hold because coronavirus-related travel restrictions at the FDA has kept their manufacturing plants from being inspected.