Biopharma financings are continuing a faster pace than last year, with $25.82 billion raised in the first five months of 2023, up 20.46% from $21.44 billion in the same time period last year. Value is down compared to 2021’s $59.29 billion and 2020’s $48.03 billion but it is more than 2019’s $23.21 billion from January to May.

Biopharma has experienced relatively stable deal value year-over-year, despite a 24% decline in the number of deals through April. M&As, however, have brought in the lowest amount in years.

Biopharma financings are pacing more than $300 million higher than at the end of April last year, but are well behind the total through April 2021 when the value of financings more than doubled any recent year due to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the end of April, biopharmas have raised $19.83 billion this year, compared to $17.5 billion through the same month in 2022, $53.7 billion in 2021, $24.04 billion in 2020 and $19.53 billion in 2019.

Despite strong deal activity throughout each of the last two years, the volume and value of partnerships began sliding in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, while M&As continue to trail several other years.

If you believe the theme of the World Dementia Council (WDC) meeting in London this week, dementia is “in a new era,” where it will be possible to prevent, diagnose and treat neurodegenerative disease. That is not the case for most people living with dementia today, but the approval of the first disease-modifying drugs and the imminent arrival of new blood-based biomarkers is “a big moment,” Lenny Shallcross, executive director of WDC told the meeting on Mar. 20.

Performing experiments and potentially manufacturing products in space offers some unique advantages in a near-zero gravity environment. Space changes buoyancy, hydrostatic pressure and convective heat flow. Researchers are studying how those changes affect cells, but also looking to take advantage of the changes to create products in manufacturing processes that wouldn’t be possible on earth.

While it made a sturdy effort as biopharma companies opted for licensing deals over M&As in 2022, the year did not surpass 2021 in deal values, falling about 3.5% short. Lackluster M&A values dropped to their lowest levels in five years and were down by 35.6% compared with 2021.

In the fourth year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization is monitoring two omicron subvariants, BA.5.2 and BF.7, causing a surge of COVID-19 cases in China. It also is keeping abreast of rising XBB.1.5 cases and declining BQ.1 cases in Europe and the U.S., where hospitalizations have increased in recent weeks. Global cases in the last month are trending below the same timepoints in 2020 and 2021, and deaths are significantly down, suggesting a move toward an endemic stage.

Investment in the fourth quarter of 2022 was dismal in Asia Pacific, as the global venture community focused on preserving capital. And the region faced other challenges throughout the year, as leaders in Australia and across Asia became acutely aware of the vulnerabilities in their supply chains. But the year also saw some big deals and collaborations involving companies across Asia Pacific, along with advances in regenerative and digital medicine.

The world is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, as both cases and deaths have remained consistently low in recent months, despite continuous mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Nevertheless, there is a shuffling of candidates in the arsenal as new variants bump once-effective therapies and the next generation of options enter the arena.