Today, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) released a new report, "The State of Innovation in Vaccines and Prophylactic Antibodies for Infectious Diseases," examining the latest scientific and investment trends in vaccine development. The global vaccine and immunization pipeline boasts nearly 250 novel clinical-stage programs but lacks the depth needed to combat many infectious pathogens, according to the report. "Our industry is working tirelessly to develop novel vaccines and antibodies for patients," said Rachel King, President and CEO of BIO. "This work has the potential to save lives, reduce health costs, and better prepare us for future public health threats. To ensure these scientific innovations continue to advance, we must make investing in vaccine development a greater priority." "We've seen incredible progress recently in areas like RSV and HPV, but unless there is more dedicated, persistent investment toward new vaccines, we'll fall behind," said David Thomas, Senior Vice President of Industry Research and Analysis at BIO and one of the report's authors. According to the report, the global vaccine development pipeline: Holds immense promise. Globally, the company-sponsored clinical pipeline for infectious disease vaccines consists of 249 active novel clinical-stage programs covering 31 infectious diseases for which there is no approved vaccine. Between 2013 and 2022, vaccines' likelihood of securing FDA approval from initial clinical studies has been higher than for other types of treatments. Has breadth, but not depth. Due to market issues that uniquely affect vaccines, just 10% of infectious disease threats addressed in the vaccine pipeline have 10 or more programs. Nearly 30% of the pipeline is for COVID-19. Lacks sufficient venture capital investment. In the past 10 years, companies with infectious disease vaccine programs received 3.4% of the total venture capital raised for biopharmaceutical companies ($6.5 billion). For…