Nearly a year after the SARS-CoV-2 virus first appeared in Wuhan, China, a ray of hope is shining on the world with high efficacy reported for four vaccines and U.S. emergency use authorizations granted to three more therapeutics.
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.
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