Pharma R&D Activity Surges Even Without COVID-19, Says Report from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science
May 19 2021 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
- Funding for early- and late-stage R&D and strategic
transactions increased significantly in 2020; aggregate R&D
spend for the top 15 companies reached a record high
- The number of first-time launches of novel active substances
(NAS) reached an all-time high of 66 in 2020 – with success for
treatments in oncology and rare diseases
- Clinical trial starts increased 8% in 2020, similar
growth to the prior 3 years, with oncology trial starts reaching
historically high levels
- Overall, clinical trial activity recovered from mid-year
2020 to levels above 2019 - even without COVID-19 trials
Despite significant disruption and reprioritization of clinical
trial activity during 2020 due to COVID-19, R&D activity levels
remained at historically high levels, driven by new funding and
strategic transactions, especially within oncology, according to a
new research report Global Trends in R&D: Overview Through 2020
released by the IQVIA™ Institute for Human Data Science.
“The growth in research and development driven by new oncology
drugs, new funding and strategic investments is a testament to the
resilience and strength of the innovative, global biopharmaceutical
industry,” said Murray Aitken, executive director of the IQVIA
Institute for Human Data Science. “Faced with significant
disruptions and the need to reprioritize research and development,
the global life sciences industry has demonstrated its ability to
meet and even exceed expectations for new and better lifesaving
therapies and vaccines.”
Key highlights of the report include:
Clinical Development Productivity: This area increased
slightly in 2020 but remains at historically low levels because of
rising trial durations, complexity of disease targets and their
associated trial protocol designs, and declining success rates.
Efforts across the industry to increase productivity by expanding
the use of data- and evidence-based approaches to improve trial
design and speed execution are expected to yield improvements over
time.
R&D Pipeline: Growth in the late-stage pipeline
continued in 2020, bringing total expansion to 43 percent since
2015 - oncology drugs reached record high numbers. Growth in the
early-stage pipeline – including next-generation biotherapeutics -
paused in 2020.
R&D Funding & Strategic Transactions: Funding for
early- and late-stage R&D increased significantly in 2020,
unaffected by the disruptions of COVID-19 and reflecting a strong
focus on innovative pathways and approaches to discover and develop
novel therapeutics, and strategic transactions. These range from
M&A through licensing and other forms of collaboration, often
between large and small companies, and they proceeded at typical
levels.
New Drug Approvals & Launches: Sustained investment
and efforts to discover and develop innovative medicines by small
and large companies yielded a record 66 new drugs globally with
success in oncology and treatments for rare diseases in addition to
COVID-19 vaccines.
The full version of the report, including a detailed description
of the methodology, is available at www.IQVIAInstitute.org. The
study was produced independently as a public service, without
industry or government funding.
About the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science
The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science contributes to the
advancement of human health globally through timely research,
insightful analysis and scientific expertise applied to granular
non-identified patient-level data.
Fulfilling an essential need within healthcare, the Institute
delivers objective, relevant insights and research that accelerate
understanding and innovation critical to sound decision making and
improved human outcomes. With access to IQVIA’s institutional
knowledge, advanced analytics, technology and unparalleled data,
the Institute works in tandem with a broad set of healthcare
stakeholders to drive a research agenda focused on Human Data
Science, including government agencies, academic institutions, the
life sciences industry, and payers. More information about the
IQVIA Institute can be found at www.IQVIAInstitute.org.
About IQVIA
IQVIA (NYSE: IQV) is a leading global provider of advanced
analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to
the life sciences industry. IQVIA creates intelligent connections
across all aspects of healthcare through its analytics,
transformative technology, big data resources and extensive domain
expertise. IQVIA Connected Intelligence™ delivers powerful insights
with speed and agility — enabling customers to accelerate the
clinical development and commercialization of innovative medical
treatments that improve healthcare outcomes for patients. With
approximately 72,000 employees, IQVIA conducts operations in more
than 100 countries.
IQVIA is a global leader in protecting individual patient
privacy. The company uses a wide variety of privacy-enhancing
technologies and safeguards to protect individual privacy while
generating and analyzing information on a scale that helps
healthcare stakeholders identify disease patterns and correlate
with the precise treatment path and therapy needed for better
outcomes. IQVIA’s insights and execution capabilities help biotech,
medical device and pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers,
government agencies, payers and other healthcare stakeholders tap
into a deeper understanding of diseases, human behaviors, and
scientific advances, to advance their path toward cures. To learn
more, visit www.iqvia.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210519005086/en/
Tor Constantino, IQVIA Media Relations
(tor.constantino@iqvia.com) +1.484.567.6732 Nick Childs, IQVIA
Investor Relations (Nchilds@us.imshealth.com) +1.973.316.3828
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