Outlook 2024

After a year of revising and opening up its regulations for new drugs in 2023, Japan is aiming to add more reimbursement pricing premiums for innovative medicines in 2024, while cautiously discussing other detailed revisions to regulations and the pricing system.

“A lot of companies are hurting because of the higher interest rates,” one major CEO observed recently, summing up a year which saw little headline-grabbing news on the M&A front for generic and biosimilar sponsors.  

In Vivo caught up with Benedikt von Braunmühl at the recent BIO-Europe conference in Munich, Germany, to discuss his first six weeks as CEO at Rentschler Biopharma and the biggest trends impacting contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMO).

With many medtechs restructuring for core growth in the post-pandemic era, Abbott relied on organic growth in 2022 to move to the top of the global medtech ranking. The strength of the US dollar was not kind to companies reporting in local currencies.

Drugmakers quickly adopt low-impact AI/ML models in quest to eventually automate manufacturing processes. Already, they are learning a lot about how these models can support their operations. One finding: innovative change management approaches may be required to unlock their full potential.

Pfizer dominated the Scrip 100 rankings of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world based on full year 2022 pharmaceutical sales, driven by its COVID-19 success.

Environmental demands, the evolution of care models, new delivery technologies and AI tools are influencing how medtechs must approach innovation.

New markets, a patent cliff, an M&A rebound and clinical trial catalysts. How will it all play out for the biopharma sector in 2024? 

Pfizer held the number one spot on the Scrip 100 on the strength of its COVID-19 products, while some others faced challenging financial comparisons in 2022 because of COVID-19 headwinds.

Nucleic acid-based therapies are poised to revolutionize medicine – just as antibodies did thirty years ago.

Global medtechs had a big enough challenge with COVID-19 and its aftermath before the full-scale regional conflict in Ukraine added more uncertainty to the question of when market normality would return.

Infographic: One of the more prominent arguments against the Medicare drug price negotiation program is that by limiting the number of years that products can be marketed before price caps are imposed, the scheme discourages development of additional indications.

Will scrutiny by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services eventually lead to shifts in investment away from improving older drugs toward developing new products? 

Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the man who supervised the development of semaglutide, describes the unprecedented growth of the obesity market and what might come next for Novo.

Industry experts from Norstella, whose data and technologies support decision making from R&D through to market access, shared their worries going into 2024.

“A lot of companies are hurting because of the higher interest rates,” one major CEO observed recently, summing up a year which saw little headline-grabbing news on the M&A front for generic and biosimilar sponsors.  

Women’s health startups focusing on areas of high unmet need such as menopause, infertility, preventive care and post-partum care will continue to attract investors in 2024. Meanwhile, machine learning and AI, as well as next-generation treatments such as psychedelic therapy, stand to drive advancements in the space.

In a year that has seen significant changes throughout the generics and biosimilars industry ranking, the top 10 has welcomed two Indian off-patent leaders. Meanwhile, companies lower down our ranking have enjoyed mixed fortunes, leading to a number of significant movements in this year’s Generics Bulletin Top 50.  

Money may have become too tight to mention for many biotechs and the IPO window in Europe is not just shut but boarded up. However, big pharma’s need to replenish the pipeline has become urgent and the major players are looking to tap into the continent’s early-stage companies which are driving innovation and provide them with much-needed cash.

Venture capital and public market fundraising have grown increasingly difficult since 2021, but while there are glimmers of hope, the rules for who can raise venture cash or launch an IPO have changed.