How did the bio/pharma industry perform in 2024, and what is the outlook for 2025 and near term?  What are the key growth areas and what headwinds and tailwinds does the industry face? How will new modalities factor into the growth prospects? Industry experts at DCAT Week 2025 provide the answers.

By Patricia Van Arnum, Editorial Director, DCAT, pvanarnum@dcat.org

Tracking industry performance

How did the bio/pharmaceutical industry perform in 2024 and what can be expected in 2025 and beyond? The Pharma Industry Outlook program at DCAT Week will provide valuable insights from leading experts at IQVIA, regarded as the gold standard for business intelligence for the global bio/pharmaceutical industry, who will provide the latest market data, analysis, and trends for:

• Overall market growth on a value and volume basis;
• Growth prospects for innovator and generic drugs;
• Leading therapeutic sectors: pipelines and commercial products;
• Market share and growth rates for the major developed markets: the United States, the European Union, the UK, and Japan.
• An outlook for emerging markets: China, Russia, India, Brazil and Tier 2 markets.

Providing that analyis will be Graham Lewis, Vice President, Global Pharma Strategy, IQVIA, who also will provide perspective on how evolving policy on drug pricing and trade in the US may impact industry performance.

But it is new product development that is the lifeblood of the industry, but what product types will be at the center of that innovation? Small molecules have historically dominated the industry on a volume and value basis, but will that continue in the future? Biologic-based drugs are increasingly becoming a solid contender to small molecules on both a commercial and pipeline basis, but what do the numbers show? Also, how are and how will new modalities—RNA molecules, cell & gene therapies, and other complex drugs—factor into the growth prospects of the industry? To what extent may a rebalancing be in play now and in the near term?

Providing that market perspective will be Jack Brocklehurst, Manager, Strategy Consulting, IQVIA, who will provide the latest market analysis on the mix between small molecules and biologics as well as the growth opportunities for new modalities.

The Pharma Industry Outlook program will be held on Monday March 17, 2025, 2:30 to 4:30 PM, followed by an attendee networking reception from 4:30 to 6:00 PM. Further information, including how to register, may be found here.

GLP-1 agonists and beyond
One of the great market success stories in the industry have been glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) agonists, which have taken the industry by storm with an unprecedented ascent and earning them a place among the industry’s blockbusters. How did this highly successful class of drugs come to fruition, what other opportunities exist, and what may be the next rising stars in the industry?

To answer those all-important questions, the DCAT Week program, What’s on the Horizon: New Modalities & Promising Drug Classes, will feature a special speaker,  Richard DiMarchi, Ph.D., a globally renowned researcher and former Group Vice President at Eli Lilly and Company and Novo Nordisk, who is widely recognized for his pioneering work that laid the foundation for the development of GLP-1 agonists.

Co-recipient of the 2024 Mani L. Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, former decade-long Chairman of the Peptide Therapeutics Foundation, co-founder of eight successful  biotech companies, and a widely recognized international authority on macromolecular medicines, Dr. DiMarchi will share the development journey of GLP-1 agonists and his perspectives on the future of drug development with a focus on: 

• What new drug classes show the greatest promise and why?
• How will new modalities, such as RNA therapeutics, cell & gene therapies, and other complex drugs factor into the industry’s pipeline and commercialization strategies
• What are the challenges and opportunities?
• What place will traditional modalities—small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, or recombinant proteins—hold in the industry’s portfolios of the future? Is a re-balancing act in store? 

Dr. DiMarchi will sit down in a special one-on-one interview with Lu Chen, Ph.D. & M.B.A., Managing Director & Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and recent co-author of a BCG analysis of the market potential of new modalities.

The program, which is exclusive to DCAT Member Companies, will be held on Tuesday March 18, 2025, 1:30 to 2:30 PM. Further information, including how to register, may be found here.