It’s an exciting time to be working in the biopharmaceutical industry. Almost every day new headlines highlight remarkable new advances in the fight against disease. Some have called this the golden – or even platinum – age of biomedical research and a new report supports that assertion.
According to a new report released today by The Analysis Group, 74 percent of medicines in clinical development around the world are potentially first-in-class medicines, meaning they use a completely new approach to fighting a disease.
The report, The Biopharmaceutical Pipeline: Innovative Therapies in Clinical Development, takes a unique cross-cutting view to examine the “innovative-ness” of the drug development pipeline as a whole.
Key findings include:
- First-in-class medicines are prevalent throughout the pipeline including 79 percent of those in development for cancer, 86 percent for Alzheimer’s disease and 73 percent for cardiovascular disease.
- 822 projects – defined as unique molecule-indication combinations – are designated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as orphan drugs, which is critically important given only 5 percent of rare diseases have an approved medicine.
- A range of novel scientific approaches are being pursued, including cell and gene therapies, DNA and RNA therapeutics and conjugated monoclonal antibodies.
These finding confirm what researchers, patients and clinicians are seeing every day: the drug development pipeline is full of promising new options for patients in need. Researchers are building on unprecedented advances in our basic understanding of disease and biopharmaceutical companies are committed to advancing solutions.
More than ever before it is important that this work continues so we can realize the potential of these medicines in development. The strong pipeline should be a reminder of how important it is that we maintain a policy and regulatory system that fosters the substantial investments needed to support medical advances.
View the report, summary and graphics of the report here.
Gretta Stone
Gretta Stone is a former deputy vice president of policy & research at PhRMA.
Gretta Stone
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