Good Day BIO: Investment in pain and addiction falls short

Greetings from the BIO CEO and Investor Conference in New York! BIO’s new report on the state of pain and addiction shows a dire need for investment—we have more details. Last week, BIO responded to the Biden administration’s RFI on biotech regulation, explaining how technology can stimulate the economy and further big societal goals. (655 words, 3 minutes, 16 seconds)

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What we’re watching today: Two fireside chats today, with Kathy Fernando, Ph.D., SVP and Global Head of the Partner of Choice Organization at Pfizer, and Lars Enstrom, Managing Director of OrbiMed Advisors. We’ll also cover risk and opportunity in China deal-making and the always-popular market outlook session.

Investment in new pain and addiction treatments falls short, says BIO study

With the number of drug programs for pain treatments falling 44% in five years, more investment is needed to address this public health crisis, says The State of Innovation in Pain and Addiction, authored by David Thomas and Chad Wessel of BIO’s Industry Analysis team.

The key takeaway: The number of active clinical drug programs for pain has plummeted from 220 in 2017 to 124, a 44% decrease. While addiction programs increased, they remain low at just 39.

And for drugs in trials, chances of approval are slim—only 0.7% of novel pain drugs entering clinical trials reach final approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), compared to 6.5% across all disease areas.

The impact: Aside from new medicines for migraines, NO additional novel targeting, non-addictive drugs for chronic pain have been approved in the last five years. While one new drug was approved for addiction, it’s only new to the U.S.; it had been marketed in the U.K. since 1992 for managing opioid withdrawal.

More investment is needed: Only 1.3% of total therapeutic venture capital investment went to pain and addiction companies in 2021. 

Read the full report at www.bio.org/iareports.

Learn more: David Thomas, BIO’s SVP of Industry Research and Analysis, will discuss the report at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference on Tuesday, February 7, at 9 a.m. ET. We’ll be bringing you coverage and an exclusive interview.  

More Health News: 

The New York Times (Opinion): An even deadlier pandemic could soon be here
Avian flu “is infecting more and more migratory birds, allowing it to spread more widely, even to various mammals, raising the risk that a new variant could spread to and among people,” writes columnist and Columbia University professor Zeynep Tufekci. 

STAT News: Hospitals gear up to expand market power, raise prices in 2023
“More than a dozen of the country’s large not-for-profit hospital systems descended on this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference with a subtle but clear message for bankers and municipal investors: Higher costs in 2022 slowed them down, but they are adamant about increasing revenue by expanding their footprints and hiking prices.”

Biotech can stimulate the economy and further societal goals – here’s how

This was the key message of BIO’s comments to the Biden administration’s Request for Information (RFI), Identifying Ambiguities, Gaps, Inefficiencies, and Uncertainties in the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology.

The administration requested input on regulations underpinning the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology as part of efforts to implement the Executive Order on advancing biotechnology and biomanufacturing, on which BIO’s been engaged.

BIO’s key point: The regulations can better facilitate the use of plant, animal, and microbial biotech to stimulate the economy and to enable products that further societal goals related to health, climate change and energy, food and ag innovation, resilient supply chains, and innovative scientific advances.

But “the U.S. must continue to address acute and systemic trade barriers to innovative biotechnology tools in important export markets,” says BIO. “To fully leverage the potential of technology to address these challenges, a level-playing field globally will be essential.”

What BIO’s doing: BIO convened a listening session with administration officials last week, where BIO members highlighted how pioneering tech can address climate change and food insecurity and achieve the goals of the EO. BIO also helped develop and signed onto comments submitted by the Ag Biotech Alliance.

President Biden’s Monday: Getting ready for the State of the Union, scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9pm E.T.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The House Rules Committee will hold a business meeting today to include several measures, including H.R. 185, which would end the CDC’s vaccination requirement for foreign travelers. Looking ahead, on Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittees on Oversight and Investigations and Health will hold a joint hearing on the federal response to COVID-19 featuring several administration officials.