More than 62% of the volume and 63% of the projected values of med-tech deals completed in 2020 are for one of two things: COVID-19 diagnostics and devices or digital health technologies that fall outside of the pandemic efforts. As of late September, BioWorld has tracked 1,012 deals this year – including licensings, collaborations and joint ventures – valued at $3.67 billion, as well as 272 completed mergers and acquisitions valued at $8.53 billion.
The aging portfolios of drug companies and the emergence of China as it moves to develop more innovative therapies are two signposts from an industry in flux, according to the newly released 2020 Centre for Medicines Research (CMR) International Pharmaceutical R&D Factbook.
There are millions of fungal species, but it appears only a few hundred of them cause serious fungal infections that are responsible for an estimated 1.5 million deaths globally each year and are equally as dangerous as bacterial and viral infections. Last week, the U.S. CDC pointed the spotlight on this situation with its Fungal Disease Awareness Week.
Anti-infective drugs approved over the last two decades were able to get through the clinical development and FDA approval processes substantially faster than other drugs, according to a new report from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.
Without the COVID-19 pandemic, projected values of biopharma nonprofit collaborations and grants would be 72% and 30% below last year’s levels, although it is impossible to know what deals may have come to fruition in a world absent of the disruptive SARS-CoV-2 virus.