Multi-decade surge in biotech set to continue

With more than 500 Phase III clinical trials now underway for biotech products worldwide, the multi-decade surge in new biopharmaceutical approvals is likely to continue, and even accelerate, in the decade ahead, according to a newly-completed analysis by the USA’s Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.

"Robust, global R&D pipelines continue to fuel the biotech revolution that launched in the early 1980s, offering the promise of a cornucopia of novel products to treat a wide range of diseases over the next 10 years," said Ronald Evens, adjunct research professor at Tufts CSDD, who conducted the analysis.

He added that the world's leading pharmaceutical companies have been instrumental to the growth in biotech product development. Since 2002, pharma partnerships have been the largest funding source for biotech development, providing 44% of all biotech financing last year.