Makiko Tanigawa
The 15 largest pharmaceutical companies invested a record $138 billion in R&D in 2022, a staggering 43% increase from 2017, according to an IQVIA report.
That $138 billion represented ~19% of the total sales of these companies.
IQVIA It also found that although biopharmaceutical investment flows among life sciences companies declined in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, they returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
While US biopharmaceutical companies saw funding drop 39% in 2022 compared to 2021, it was still 25% higher than it was in 2019.
On the trading front, while pharmaceutical transactions declined 25% from 2021 to 2022, there has been an increase in the number of transactions involving emerging biopharmaceuticals with larger companies.
IQVIA said 483 M&A deals were announced in 2022, up from 615 in 2021. However, the 2022 figure was similar to 2018.
R&D pipelines
In 2022, 6,147 drug candidates were in development from phase 1 to regulatory submissions. Oil pipelines have grown at a compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of 8.3% between 2018 and 2022.
Oncology candidates represent 38% of pipeline candidates and have been growing at a CAGR of 10.5% over the past five years. IQVIA noted that the growth in oncology is due to a focus in recent years on large tumor therapies that target large populations.
Among big pharma, AstraZeneca (AZN), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Merck (New York Stock Exchange:MRK), and Pfizer (New York Stock Exchange: PFE) have the largest cancer ducts. Roche (OTCQX: RHHBY), Novartis (NVS), Johnson & Johnson (New York Stock Exchange: JNJ), and Amgen is not far behind. Abb Fri (New York Stock Exchange: ABBV) has many early-stage candidates.
Neurology represents 11% of the projects in development, a large part of them in treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases (127 and 96 products, respectively), although depression and other mental health conditions are also having a greater representation in the last years.
Companies with late-stage Alzheimer’s assets include Cassava Sciences (SAVA) and Anavex Life Sciences (AVXL). Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) and Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) also have strong pipelines in neurology/psychiatric diseases and central nervous system disorders, respectively.
About 30% of project development is related to rare diseases, and half of this number is for diseases other than cancer.
Although US companies continue to dominate R&D projects with a 46% share in 2022, Chinese companies are getting more into the action. In 2022, they represented 20% of the candidates, up from just 5% a decade earlier.
clinical trials activity
Even with the impact of COVID on clinical trials through 2022, there was only a 1% decline in activity between 2022 and 2021 for non-COVID trials. However, activity in 2022 was still 8% higher than in 2019.
Oncology trial initiation reached an all-time high in 2022, up 22% from 2018. They focused primarily on rare cancer indications.
Trials of depression treatments in 2022 were 68% higher compared to before the pandemic. About 25% of depression trials starting in 2022 involved psychedelic treatments.
The success of the Pfizer (PFE)/BioNTech (BNTX) and Moderna (MRNA) mRNA-based COVID vaccines has stimulated a large increase in mRNA vaccine development. Although the mRNA pipeline is dominated by COVID, influenza and respiratory vaccines, there is development for other infectious diseases as well.
As of 2022, five cancer mRNA vaccines were in development, a number that hasn’t changed much since 2017.