Earlier this year, Allucent (formerly Pharm-Olam) partnered with Informa’s Pharma Intelligence to draft a white paper that discusses the escalation of COVID-19 research as well as the effects of the pandemic on non-COVID related studies. On July 23, 2020, we updated that document to reflect the developments that have happened in the biotechnology sector since it was published.
Here are some of the highlights from those changes:
Global Pandemic Status Update
- When we first published the white paper, the number of confirmed cases stood at 6,302,318 (June 2, 2020). As of July 23, total infected was 15,429,889. That is an increase of 145% in 51 days.
- By July 23, 2020, the number of COVID-related deaths reached over 631,000 worldwide and totaled more than 144,000 in the United States alone. On June 2, there had been 376,210 global deaths with 105,147 in the US. That’s an increase of 68% and 37% respectively.
- Daily new cases of COVID-19 has seen its highest daily total in the past week having reached 278.9k on a global level on July 23, 2020.
Industry Response Status Update
Progress is being made as the industry rapidly responds to the COVID Pandemic. The FDA released a revised “Guidance on Conduct of Clinical Trials of Medical Products during COVID-19 Public Health Emergency” on July 2, 2020 and the clinical research industry has been expanding its efforts in finding a treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus.
The numbers of trials in progress and current phases of that research as of the end of July 20 have grown exponentially compared to June 1, which was the date of the data reflected in the original white paper.
- There are currently 2,557 clinical trials targeting COVID-19 and 479 pipeline drugs in active development. This is an increase of almost 39% in the number of active COVID trials and an increase of 32.6% in the number of drugs in development.
- As of July 20, we now have 241 studies in Phase II/III versus 146 which is a 65% increase.
- Analyzing Phase III, we now have 511 studies in Phase III versus 355 which is a 43.9% increase.
Allucent is proud to have prepared this white paper, and we will continue to periodically update the document as the COVID crisis unfolds. We will also email anyone who downloads the paper when we update the information so that they always have the most recent available data on the impact of the pandemic as it relates to clinical research. At Allucent, we go the distance to create a healthier world, and that includes sharing important information like this.