Although 2020 is the highest money-making year on record for the biopharma industry, a direct comparison of the first five months indicates that the amount raised so far in 2021 is 22% ahead of last year, while the number of financings climbed 26%.
The amount of money raised by medical technology companies in 2021 has dropped by about 26% in comparison with the same timeframe last year, although amounts from IPOs and venture capital rounds have more than doubled. By this point in 2020, $31.48 billion was raised through 282 transactions, while 2021 has so far brought in $23.3 billion through 311 financings, a 10% higher volume.
Although 2020 is the highest money-making year on record for the biopharma industry, a direct comparison of the first five months indicates that the amount raised so far in 2021 is 22% ahead of last year, while the number of financings climbed 26%.
Jam-packed with efforts to address COVID-19 variants and next-step booster shots, as well as safety concerns over vaccine co-administrations and the expansion of emergency use authorizations (EUAs) into younger populations, May was another busy pandemic-fighting month for the world, despite higher numbers of those vaccinated and declining death and hospitalization rates.
Global regulatory activity in 2021 has risen by 25% over this time last year, but the proportion of the activity associated with COVID-19 has dropped in recent months.
Although more than a third of U.S. citizens are fully vaccinated from COVID-19 and society moves closer to normalcy in many parts of the world, the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to dramatically impact biopharma dealmaking with nonprofit entities, as well as grant awards.
Digital health and diagnostic efforts continue to dominate med-tech deal-making so far in 2021, while activity focused on medical devices has dropped over the last few years. COVID-19 partnerships also have fallen since last year. Digital health accounts for 43%, the largest portion, of deals this year. About 239 deals are targeting this space, including pandemic efforts. Diagnostic efforts represent about 19%, or 103, of the total deals.
About 13 years after four MIT graduate students and a computer science professor launched Ginkgo Bioworks Inc., the Boston-based synthetic biology platform business is merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the largest life sciences deal of its kind to date.
Although it has been a strong year for med-tech financings, they appear to be losing ground. While the first three months of 2021 showed a 67% increase in money raised over the same time frame in 2020, it is now showing that financing values are up by only 15% in comparison to last year.
With 2021 biopharma financings already at 40% of last year’s total, there is a good likelihood that a new record will be made for the industry, assuming wide open public windows and robust venture capital activity continue.
