COVID-19 May Negatively Impact the Biopharmaceutical Industry

May 27, 2020 - A recent study found that the biopharmaceutical industry will be negatively effected by the COVID-19 pandemic and policymakers should make changes to avoid the impact. 

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The biopharmaceutical sector is seeing significant disruptions in their business operations such as research and development, sales, and clinical trials. 

While many biopharmaceutical companies are profitable and will not need government assistance, some companies will emerge much weaker and experience delays in new product launches, with fewer resources to invest in research and development.

The study from the Pioneer Institute touched on four categories where the biopharmaceutical industry will see the most downfall. 

Clinical Trial Disruption 

The study mentioned that 6,461 clinical trials by public biopharmaceutical companies have been registered with an estimated total cost of $291 billion. 

Although most of these trials will still take place, their completion may be delayed significantly, with the largest impact on smaller companies.

Most drug makers have delayed the start of new trials due to populations in lockdown, hospitals unable to be used, and doctors and labs re-prioritized. 

Clinical trial delays will consume patent life and limit the period when a drug can be sold under patent and not copied by generic companies, Pioneer said in the study. 

Declining Sales For Some Non-COVID Treatments 

Patient-provider interactions dropped more than 60 percent from early March to early April due to the pandemic, according to data from IQVIA highlighted in the study. The decrease in patient-provider interactions created a significant decline in the number of prescriptions. 

During March, there was a surge in patient stockpiling of medicines. In the months following, the volume of prescriptions has plummeted for both retail and mail order sales. Typical weekly prescription volume is around 79 million, but the last week of April saw volume drop to 68.9 million, IQVIA said. 

Even solid pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly and Company, said that the pandemic is going to harm its business in the future. 

A Pause in In-Person Sales and Marketing

Physicians and pharmaceutical companies strive to keep their patients safe, Pioneer said, so the pandemic has disrupted in-person sales and marketing. This is a problem especially for companies launching new drugs.

Biopharmaceutical companies are experiencing a loss of medical conferences where companies can get create interest in their products by releasing data, distributing marketing material, promote their R&D pipelines, and otherwise mingle with key medical opinion leaders, Pioneer said. 

Supply Chain and Distribution Challenges

The supply chain disruptions that companies are facing are particularly prominent in the area of antibiotics. But certain COVID-19 related treatments could see “huge spikes in demand that are putting pressure on supply chains,” a separate McKinsey report said.

IQVIA stated that there has been a huge increase in demand for certain over-the-counter medications with many consumers stockpiling “immunity enhancing treatments, vitamins, analgesics, anti-infectives, and cough and cold medications.” 

Financial Market Reaction to Biopharmaceuticals and COVID-19

Nearly every market cap bracket fell in the first quarter for 600 global drug companies, Evaluate Advantage said in the report. 

For the biotechnology sector specifically, biotech shares have generally declined. Some biotech stocks have increased on the basis of potential treatments or vaccines, such as Regeneron, Gilead, Moderna, and BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer in mid-March on a potential vaccine.

Eli Lilly ‘s diabetes patients stockpiled treatments. But Merck cut its revenue estimates for 2020 by $2.5 billion because two-thirds of its portfolio is physician-administered treatments.

These include vaccines, which generated over $8 billion in sales during 2019, as well as their cancer drug, Keytruda.

Key Policy Recommendations 

Pioneer suggested that regulators should demonstrate significant flexibility in reviewing data from clinical trials that have been disrupted or delayed, and congress should extend the patent life of therapies by the period that clinical trials were delayed because of the pandemic. This could turn the biopharmaceutical industry around and avoid major negative COVID-19 consequences. 

Additional Pioneer recommendations included: 

• Companies that make significant investments in COVID-19 treatments should be able to secure a reasonable return on their investments
• State officials could make it a priority to increase the ability of patients to secure treatments where access has been disrupted by the pandemic
• State regulators may seek ways to increase access to medicines for older Americans who are most vulnerable during COVID-19
• An expert commission may be formed to make recommendations on improving the supply chain for medicines

“During this pandemic, its importance and expertise should be obvious to all. Policymakers should pay careful attention to the strains and disruptions taking place with this ecosystem and make changes that will strengthen it. As we look to erase the current pandemic and look to the next one, we want our nation’s and our world’s arsenal of medicines to be even stronger,” Pioneer concluded.