Through July 2024, biopharma firms received $2.52 billion in grants, marking a 52% increase from $1.66 billion in grants during the same period last year. However, nonprofit deals are at their lowest level on record, according to BioWorld’s records. Although nonprofit deal values were initially higher in April compared to 2023, they have since dropped and are now well below the levels seen in prior years.

Although last year’s massive U.S. launch of Humira biosimilars captured headlines, the market adoption of those competitors has been nothing to write home about, even with discounts as low as 85% off the innovator price.

During a webinar arranged by Demy-Colton, panelists discussed a wide range of potential outcomes that might occur depending on which political party ends up in power next year. From tweaks to the Inflation Reduction Act to new laws to the Federal Trade Commission's regulation of M&As, there’s potential for the government to have substantial effects on the drug development industry.

Headlines in March about Cartesian Therapeutics Inc. reminded investors of the firm’s already-intriguing push with Descartes-08, an autologous anti-BCMA mRNA CAR T therapy, in the works for myasthenia gravis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Excitement generally is mounting around prospects for CAR T therapies in autoimmune disease, where developers aplenty are pursuing early stage opportunities.

The BioWorld Infectious Disease Index (BIDI) has rebounded significantly from its lowest point this year, improving from a 25.12% drop in late April to a 7.66% decline by the end of July. Despite the recovery, BIDI still lagged behind the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, which rose 10.82% by July’s close, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which gained 8.25% year to date.

In July 2024, BioWorld reported on 121 clinical trial updates, down from 221 covered in June. The month saw 17 successful phase III trials, alongside four unsuccessful cancer trials.