The pharmaceutical industry is suffering from post-covid syndrome

Investor sentiment calmed down

The record revenues of the previous two years understandably cannot be repeated, and the companies often spend the accumulated considerable amount of money on their own financial consolidation instead of R&D, which is considered more important by the shareholders. At the same time, the industry is stable, growing, and is expected to withstand the economic upheavals of the coming period, which are being announced by more and more people. Lessons from this year’s “Biotech Report” analysis of the international BDO.

Every year, the international BDO prepares an analysis of the latest annual reports of companies listed on the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (NBI) (367 companies at the end of 2021) to reveal important trends in the biotechnology industry. Our recent analysis shows that the incredible growth momentum of 2020 is over, but the biotech industry remains resilient. Share prices fell by the same amount in 2021 after a 24% jump during the pandemic, so there is no question of a fall, they essentially returned to the previous levels of 2017-2019. However, all of this only means a dampening of investor sentiment, the company’s revenue growth is significant. The revenue of companies included in the NBI increased by 37% in 2021, compared to 10% growth in 2020, and this is one of the largest increases in recent years.

Instead of R&D activities, the companies primarily spent the increased revenues on buying back their own shares. This does not necessarily coincide with the preferences of investors, who prefer to spend their money on innovation, but it undoubtedly helps them to make as much profit as possible from their existing products. However, this does not mean that research projects have stopped, only that the rate of expansion has returned to its previous state.

BDO