Factors in addition to the rejuvenation of pharmaceutical revenues and biotechnology product failures are likely to pull in opposite directions at the sector’s recovery from the pandemic.

Revenues are still elusive for a surprising number of the novel drugs approved by the FDA five years ago. Emergent safety issues and confirmatory clinical trial failures were less common than lack of competitiveness as the main reason for revenue weakness.

Recently launched branded drugs prescribed by specialist physicians and marketed by smaller commercial-stage biotech companies remain in the eye of the pandemic storm.

The UK’s Artios has linked up with Merck KGaA in a potentially multi-billion dollar deal to collaborate on discovering and developing up to eight oncology drug targets associated with DNA damage response processes, and is also progressing its own lead compounds through its pipeline.