The return on R&D investment for leading biopharmaceutical manufacturers fell to a nine-year low while the U.S. FDA approved a record-breaking amount of novel medicines during 2018.
Deal activity is rampant as Big Pharma gobbles up next-generation medicines and technologies to help overcome maturing pipelines and biosimilar threats.
There was a significant drop-off in NME approvals by FDA in 2016, but there were not enough new drug applications with user fee goals to reach the lofty 2015 total.
The pharma industry’s R&D concentration has been shifting towards specialty therapy areas as research and development returns decline for some leaders.