COVID-19 Factor Wanes But Pharma’s R&D Pipeline Hits Record Heights

Pipeline Breaks 20,000 Barrier

Pharma’s R&D engine has been firing on all cylinders in the past year – pipeline growth in 2021 stood at nearly twice that for the previous year, pushing the number of products under active development over 20,000 for the first time.    

Sports car in a wind tunnel
Pharma's Racing R&D • Source: Alamy

The pharma R&D pipeline expanded by more than 8% last year to reached 20,109 drugs at the start of January, but new additions of COVID-related agents during the past twelve months cannot be said to account for the big increase.

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