IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science has officially published the results from its new report i.e. Global Trends in R&D 2025: Progress in Recapturing Innovation in Biopharma Innovation.
In essence, this report revealed that life sciences innovation ecosystem continued to evolve and expand in 2024 as the industry made considerations for a complex and dynamic range of geopolitical, technological and social uncertainties.
More on that would reveal how, going by IQVIA’s word, the year in question experienced significant progress when it came to funding, trial starts, program productivity, and cycle times.
Talk about these components on a slightly deeper level, we begin from R&D funding. You see, biopharma funding levels in the past year marked another uptick following the post-pandemic rebound of 2023. This growth had largely materialized on the back of contributions from IPOs, follow-on funding, and other public and private sources.
Barring 2020 and 2021 heights seen during the pandemic, the overall funding has reached a 10-year high of $102 billion in 2024 which translates to a substantial increase over the 2023 figure of $71 billion.
Next up, we must expand upon clinical trial activity. The total volume of clinical trial starts essentially stabilized in 2024 after the year-on-year declines seen in 2022 and 2023, reaching 5,318.This resembles the 5,316, pre-pandemic count observed in 2019 and slightly above the 5,302 total of 2023.
The short-term volatility introduced by COVID-19 trials since 2019 has also been partly counterbalanced by an increase in trials from China-headquartered companies, as well as by the emergence of new-age biopharma and larger players, especially in Phase I.
Moving on to new drug approvals and launches, there were, in total, 65 novel active substances (new, previously unapproved drugs or drug ingredients) that launched throughout the globe during 2024,. For better understanding, the stated number was lower than 80 recorded in 2023 but still more than in the pre-pandemic period.
Markedly enough, the launches in 2024 included world’s first new mechanism of action for schizophrenia in over 30 years, the first therapy for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), four treatments for rare neurological diseases, and seven non-oncology hematology drugs.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in clinical development productivity, which effectively went up from 2023 to 2024, driven by a surge across Phase III success rates, as the latter year counteracted declining success in Phase I and Phase II. This it did while simultaneously bolstering trial durations.
Having referred to the end productivity, we now must touch upon productivity enablers. Several different dynamic external ecosystem factors were found to have an impact on companies sponsoring trials. These factors included economic challenges, social change and geopolitical issues, including trade disputes and conflicts, policy changes and regulatory developments, each one chipping in to scale R&D complexity and uncertainty.
Against these challenges, sponsor companies are utilizing a range of productivity enablers to positively affect speed, success rates, and cost of trials. The stated enablers cover systematic and robust implementation of decision frameworks and clinical technologies, better patient representation, better capabilities among real-world evidence, and artificial intelligence solutions.
Founded in 2010, IQVIA’s rise up the ranks stems from providing clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. The company’s focal point is presently supported by its proprietary Connected Intelligence™ platform, which is known for delivering actionable insights and services built on high-quality health data, Healthcare-grade AI®, advanced analytics, the latest technologies, and extensive domain expertise.
IQVIA’s stature in what it does can be better understood once you consider it employs more than 88,000 employees in over 100 countries, including experts in healthcare, life sciences, data science, technology, and operational excellence.
“Increases in funding, normalization of clinical trial starts, stabilization or acceleration of key cycle time drivers, and improvements in late-stage success and clinical productivity — all of which were observed in 2024 — demonstrate meaningful year-on-year progress in biopharmaceutical R&D,” said Murray Aitken, executive director of the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science. “Although geopolitical, economic and other external ecosystem factors are increasing pressure on innovators, effective application of a range of productivity enablers has had a positive impact on the efficiency of clinical development.”
