biotech Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Mapping the more than 1,000 biotech and pharma layoffs in January 2024

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On the heels of a strong year of FDA approvals, there are signs in early 2024 that the biotech sector is recovering. Examples include two recent biotech IPOs, signs of investor optimism and continued M&A momentum. But the biotech sector continues to see a significant number of layoffs. Major layoffs in early 2024 include companies like Cara Therapeutics, Ikena Oncology, Pfizer, and Sana Biotechnology. In early 2024, the rate of layoff events has continued at roughly the same clip over the past several months. Altogether, there were more than 1,300 job cuts in January.

Public companies driving the most layoffs

In terms of the source of the layoffs, public companies such as Pfizer, Intellia Therapeutics, and Thermo Fisher Scientific are letting the most workers go, with more than 600 layoffs in January 2024. Next in line are clinical-stage companies such as the oncology-focused biotec…

Biotech bounces back at JPM 2024 on optimism, breakthroughs and calculated bets, but uncertainties persist

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At the dawn of 2024, there’s a sense of renewed optimism in the biotech sector despite a downturn that has lasted for more than two years. At the JP Morgan Health Care Conference, deal-making activity showed signs of strength. For instance, Merck agreed to acquire cancer drug developer Harpoon Therapeutics for roughly $680 million, highlighting continued interest in oncology cancer therapies. Meanwhile, Novartis announced plans to acquire Calypso Biotech, a deal involving an upfront payment of $250 million with potential milestones worth up to $175 million.

“I feel like in the last two or three weeks, we’ve almost made up for 50% of the deals that didn’t happen in 2023,” quipped Jen Nwankwo, CEO of 1910 Genetics, a company specializing in computational biology and automated laboratory technologies. Pointing to recent clinical successes and FDA approva…

The global biotech funding landscape in 2023: U.S. leads while Europe and China make strides

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In 2023, the U.S. continued to demonstrate its position as the biotech funding leader, commanding over one-third, 35%, of the global investment in the sector. Overall, U.S. biotech firms attracted $56.79 billion in funding, according to a survey of Crunchbase data. Next in line was China, which contributed about 12.7% to the global funding pool, or $20.61 billion. Up next was Europe, which secured more than $11.46 billion and representing more than 7% of the worldwide funding.

While U.S. leads in total biotech funding, Chinese biotech companies, on average, saw larger funding rounds than either Europe or the U.S. The average funding size per company in China was roughly three times larger than that in the U.S. and six times larger than the average in Europe.

But while China-based companies had larger hauls, they were comparatively few. Chinese biotech secured …

What’s next for biotech? Q4 2023 funding trends point beyond the usual suspects

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Oncology may continue be one of the hottest sectors across the pharma sector, but other therapeutic areas are catching up in terms of innovation and investment. While oncology and hematology jointly accounted for about one-third of the new FDA approvals in 2023, investors are increasingly betting on precision medicine, advanced drug delivery systems and the use of AI and machine learning for drug discovery and development.

The shift is not entirely new. In a report from late 2023, McKinsey also notes ML-enabled drug discovery, cell therapies, and gene editing continue to attract significant funding, making up over two-thirds of biotech VC deals in 2022, constituting $15.5 billion in total. The consultancy also noted that immunology had displaced oncology as the hottest therapeutic area for asset-based biotech investments, also citing allogeneic cell therapies …

Pharma M&A activity primed for another high-flying year in 2024

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Despite challenging interest rates and regulatory environment, pharma M&A activity surged in 2023 with deal volume up more than 30% from the prior year based on a review of more than 200 acquisitions since 2018. The total disclosed deal value in 2023 also more than doubled the prior year’s tally to surpass $100 billion. While the pandemic boosted research into areas such as mRNA, it had something of a chilling effect on M&A. As pharma companies begin to put the pandemic in the rearview mirror, M&A activity has gained momentum.

Analysts upbeat on biopharma M&A activity in 2024

According to PwC, the M&A activity in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sector could continue humming in 2024. Despite a challenging interest rate environment, PwC projects the sector to see deal values ranging from $225 billion to $275 billion. Deal volume in 2023 was in line with pre-pandemic levels. …

Pfizer and AstraZeneca top annual pharma future-readiness rankings

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As 2023 draws to a close, the pharma industry finds itself at an inflection point. On the one hand, stubbornly high inflation rates, a dearth of talent, supply chain hurdles, and a more challenging regulatory climate threaten profitability. But on the other, the rapid advances in areas ranging from cell and gene therapy and IT technology offer new opportunities for efficiency gains and innovation.

Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Lilly come out on top in future-readiness

Against that backdrop, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Lilly round out the top three rankings in terms of future-readiness, according to an analysis from IMD. In its annual ranking, Pfizer advanced from second to first place, Eli Lilly moved up from seventh to third place, and Novo Nordisk rose from 13th to seventh. While Pfizer has had something of a rough year, missing its revenue projections as demand for Paxlovid and Corminaty slides, …

50 of the best-funded biotechs of 2023

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As the year draws to a close, it is clear that molecular science and diagnostics is the hottest funding area in the biotech industry. In an analysis of 50 of the best-funded biotechs of 2023 focused on human health, molecular and science and diagnostics startups collectively attracting roughly $945 million, dwarfing the figures in other segments. The next popular two niches, gene therapies and oncology, had average funding levels of approximately $245 million and $170 million, respectively. While AI has received a significant amount of attention this year, biotechs specializing in that field garnered an average funding of only about $66 million. Outside of the life sciences, startups with a broader focus on AI raised a cumulative average of $202.47 million, based on an analysis of close to 1000 companies.

Caris Life Sciences has raised nearly $1.7B to date

In terms of best-funded companies overall,…

The best-selling pharmaceuticals of 2023: Immunology and oncology return to prominence

Note: This feature on the best-selling pharmaceuticals of 2023 will be updated regularly as new data becomes available. Stay tuned for our ongoing coverage of the pharma sector’s sales dynamics.

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In 2023, as the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic began to loosen, the pharma sector returned to relying on immunology and oncology as sales drivers. So far this year, the two segments are on track to be the strongest in the pharma landscape. In the first half of 2023, the immunology and oncology domains drove sales of $31.110 billion and $37.982 billion, respectively, based on a review of financial data from 13 Big Pharma companies. Conversely, the infectious disease segment accumulated sales of approximately $28.587 billion.

Contrasting the boom of prior years, 2023 has seen a pronounced dip in the appetite for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. For instance, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine generated roug…

Five insights on COVID-19 vaccine side effects

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To date, there have been more than 770 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly 7 million deaths from the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Vaccines remain one of the most potent tools in blunting the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and vaccine developers have distributed more than 13.5 billion vaccine doses to date.

As the global fight against COVID-19 continues, the emphasis on vaccine safety remains a priority. While COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer and J&J vaccines show higher reactogenicity than other commonly administered vaccines, SARS-CoV-2 remains a dangerous virus. Beyond the immediate threat of infection, the prolonged impact of ‘long COVID‘ is considerable. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reveals that more than 40% of U.S. adults have had a COVID-19 infection, with nearly 19% of these individuals still grappling wit…

30 biotech startups making waves

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The biotech industry is facing a reckoning in 2023. To date, roughly 100 biopharmas have cut workers this year, matching the total number of layoffs in the sector in 2022. Many biotech startups have been hit hard. The wave of job cuts comes on the heels of a biotech boom following the COVID-19 pandemic, when new biopharmas proliferated.

Against this turbulent backdrop, a select group of biotech startups have managed to sustain growth. We’ve selected 30 firms that have collectively raised nearly $8 billion. A fair share of these companies are focused on AI techniques to accelerate drug discovery while others have homed in on niche areas like gene therapies, RNA modulation and epigenetic therapies.

1. Tempus Mission: Applying AI for cancer care and beyond. With a valuation ranging in billions and high-profile partnerships, Tempus has forged high-profile partnerships as it extends i…

Assessing the techbio landscape: hype or substance?

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The venture capital firm Artis Ventures, founded in 2001, coined the term “techbio” sector to describe biotech platforms where technology and engineering take the lead in advancing drug discovery and biomanufacturing. In circa 2019, the firm contributed to shaping the techbio landscape by setting up venture capital fund named Artis techbio that bridges the gap between software and drug development.

Although the term term “techbio” has gained prominence in recent year, the use of technologies such as AI, automation and genomics in the biotech sector has attracted considerable attention from startups and investors for much longer. This is evident when noting the founding dates of notable companies in the space: Ginkgo Bioworks’ origins trace back to 2008. Exscientia and AbCellera were established in 2012, and BenevolentAI and Recursion in 2013.

Reality c…

Nvidia exec: Generative AI can turn every biologist into a computer scientist — and vice versa

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On a recent visit to Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, I had the chance to speak with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president and general manager of healthcare. After asking about the pharma industry’s surging interest in AI, Powell remarked, “Every pharma knows who Nvidia is now.” Curious, I asked her, “How long has that been the case?” Without batting an eye, she replied: “Since December.” While some R&D professionals in pharma were aware of the company, awareness was not pervasive until recently. The December timing is not a coincidence. OpenAI’s ChatGPT rolled out on November 30, 2022. ChatGPT, which runs on Nvidia hardware, has prompted a reprioritization of AI in the industry. As Powell described it: “From the top down, every group is saying, go do at least two things using AI, and report back. They are really just starting to make it part of the DNA of the c…