Pharma industry predictions for 2021 l Drug Development

                             

Pharma industry predictions for 2021

 

Here’s a look at some of the top trends experts say will impact the industry in 2021 and predictions about how the COVID pandemic could permanently change life in pharma.

Drug Development

R&D for personalized medicines will continue

“Projections for the industry are forecasting increased investment into R&D focused on the development of methods for early disease detection, development of ‘personalized medicine’ to match patients with customized drugs, and the development of more precise and targeted drug therapies based upon greater understanding of the mechanisms of various disease states.”

~John Carey, vice president of sales, ACG Engineering

 

The market for sterile injectables will expand

“There’s an increasing need for innovative products to treat the rising cases of chronic diseases and many will be delivered through prefilled syringes. This is linked to the broader trends over the past decade towards home healthcare and self-administration of sterile injectables. The global prefilled syringes market size is projected to reach $9.53 billion by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 10.4 percent.”

~Nicole Strauss, Pipeline Development and Innovation lead, Pfizer CentreOne

 

R&D will focus on immunity

“The pandemic has slowed down R&D in many areas outside of vaccines, including oncology, although this is picking up again. This has led to a lot of uncertainty, and while oncology will still be the leading R&D area in terms of investment, we're starting to see a real focus on immunity. One of the things that makes cancer so tough to treat is that it comes from your own body. This makes it difficult to target without killing other cells.”

~Barbara Morgan, general manager, CDMO, Lubrizol Life Science Health

                       

 

Infectious disease investments will increase

“To date, oncology indications have been the most attractive target for capital investment in both the pharma and biotech sectors. While many new modalities, ranging from CRISPR to mRNA and cell therapy have gained momentum, they are predominantly aimed at various liquid and solid tumors.  In the past, infectious disease, irrespective of COVID, received a comparatively marginal amount of investment despite having a greater impact on overall global health.  The new found value in Gilead’s repurposed remdesevir, developed for Ebola but finding success in COVID, may motivate pharma and investors alike to allocate greater resources to currently lower value, but greater impact, infectious disease indications beyond coronaviruses.”

~ Jay Round, entrepreneur in residence, RI Bio 

 

COVID-19 will strain other clinical trials

“Due to COVID, many clinical trials will continue to face challenges with enrolling patients. This will negatively impact the number of trials that remain operational and limit the number of new programs in 2021.”

~Mark Sawicki, CEO, Cryoport Systems