Sep. 13, 2022
By Karen Carey
While COVID-19 remains a top research priority globally for government and nonprofit entities in partnership with biopharma companies, deal activity also is heavily focused on other infectious diseases, such as smallpox and influenza.
In fact, only about half of the infectious disease deals between biopharma and nonprofits are focused on the current pandemic. The others, 57 in total, are working toward solutions for anthrax, HIV, malaria, respiratory infections, chickenpox, dengue fever, yellow fever, monkeypox and others.
Through mid-September, BioWorld has tracked 481 deals between biopharma companies and nonprofit or government entities (bio/nonprofit). The deals are worth a combined $7.54 billion. A total of 117 worth $7.27 billion are for infectious disease indications. Cancer represents the most activity, with 148 deals, but only a small portion of the overall disclosed value, $6.9 million.
In addition, the biopharma industry has recorded a total of 237 grants worth $1.14 billion in 2022.
Top nonprofit deals and grants
Only 22 bio/nonprofit deals, 4.6%, include disclosed values, and six of the top seven partnerships are part of COVID-19 pandemic efforts, including large U.S. government contracts worth $3.2 billion for Biontech SE and Pfizer Inc. and $1.74 billion for Moderna Inc. for omicron-adapted vaccines. Other top pandemic deals are for the supply of Eli Lilly and Co.’s bebtelovimab ($720 million and $275 million; U.S. government) and to develop, manufacture and commercialize Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd.’s GDI-4405 ($248.14 million; Global Health Drug Discovery Institute) and Everest Medicines Ltd.’s EDDC-2214 ($214.5 million; Experimental Drug Development Centre).
The one outlier, signed in late August, is a $680 million multiyear contract between Chimerix Inc. and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to supply up to 1.7 million treatment courses of Tembexa (brincidofovir) for smallpox infection.
As for grants, 161 (68%) have disclosed values in 2022, including 64 grants from U.S. government sources, bringing in $616.34 million, about 54% of the overall grant value for the year.
While the $68 million award from the U.S. NIH to Postera Inc. for small-molecule antiviral therapeutics remains the largest grant this year, BARDA awarded $63.2 million in August to Arcturus Therapeutics Inc. to advance into phase I self-amplifying mRNA vaccines for rapid pandemic influenza.
Deals and grants down by 18.5%
Combined, there have been 718 bio/nonprofit deals and grants worth a total of $8.5 billion this year. This indicates an 18.5% drop in volume and a 16.4% drop in value when compared with the same timeframe of 2021 in which there were 881 deals and grants worth $10.2 billion.
A total of 87 non/profit deals and grants in 2022 are focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, covering 12.1% of the overall number, significantly below last year’s figure of 24.4%. The value of COVID-19-related deals and grants through mid-September, however, is similar, representing 78% of the total in 2022 and 75% in 2021.
Bio/nonprofit deals and grants, tracked by BioWorld, are updated through mid-September and can be found within BioWorld Snapshots