Top Market Areas of Interest in Biotech
Cure's Ready, Set, Growth! Biotech Benchmark Report 2024 survey asked biotech stakeholders what their top areas of interest are in biotech right now. Unlike in years past, digital health wasn’t among them. The top interest was drug discovery, with 80 percent of survey respondents saying they were either “very interested” or “extremely interested” in the space.
Other top interests included clinical trials (63 percent), drug delivery (57 percent) and MedTech devices and Diagnostics (55 percent).
Along with digital health (37 percent), areas of lower interest included health services (35 percent) and payors (26 percent).
Top Therapeutic Areas of Interest in Biotech
When it comes to therapeutic areas, there were clear winners and losers as well. The top therapeutic areas of interest were neurology and metabolic disease, with 67 percent of respondents saying they were “very interested” or “extremely interested” in these therapeutic areas.
These areas were followed closely by oncology (66 percent), immunology and infectious diseases (65 percent), and cell and gene therapy (63 percent).
These results somewhat track with broader trends in healthcare M&A data — the most active therapeutic areas for biotech M&A in 2023, according to data from Leerink Partners, included oncology, rare disease and immunology.
Other therapeutic areas had much less interest, notably ophthalmology/vision (29 percent) and dentistry (15 percent). And although mental health was not given as an option in the survey, multiple commenters mentioned that they have lost interest in mental health as a therapeutic area.
New Technologies Drive Innovation
One of biotech’s biggest drivers of innovation is its rapid embrace of cutting-edge technologies, from gene editing to artificial intelligence. Not all new technologies are created equal, however. Some technologies may sound innovative but have serious barriers in manufacturing, use or both.
Cure asked biotech stakeholders which new technologies are more influential to their current businesses, investments or research. 60 percent of respondents said cell and gene therapy was the top technology, calling it “very” or “extremely” influential.
The next most influential technologies were CRISPR/gene editing (56 percent) and AI/Machine Learning (50 percent). Less influential technologies included mRNA (46 percent) and telemedicine (23 percent), once again showing that digital health may be on a decline.
Many of the top technologies are not only fascinating scientifically, but also projected to be big market growth opportunities. The cell and gene therapy manufacturing market is forecasted to blow past $100 billion in the next 10 years, according to Statista. And the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that generative AI could eventually generate up to $110 billion annually in economic value for pharmaceutical and medtech companies, including up to $28 billion in research and drug discovery.
