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Lots To Celebrate Among 2021 Drug Launches, But Underlying Trends Underwhelm

 
• By Jessica Merrill

The number of new drugs that launched in 2021 was on par with recent high trends, but launch trajectories generally underwhelmed commercially – except for COVID-19 vaccines.

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Some new launches struggled to get off the ground • Source: Alamy

It was a one-of-a-kind year for new drug launches in 2021. There was the unprecedented launch and commercial success of mRNA-based vaccines for COVID-19 on one end of the spectrum and the exceedingly disappointing launch of Biogen, Inc.'s much-hyped Aduhelm (aducanumab) for Alzheimer's disease on the other. In between there were a lot of launches, but also significant commercial headwinds that remained hard for the industry to overcome.

Overall, there were more than 50 new drugs and vaccines launched in the US in 2021 – a number that is on par with recent highwater marks in terms of the number of new entries and a positive sign that the industry is delivering on innovation

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