What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in life sciences in the next decade?
Unsurprisingly, China is the clear leader amongst respondents, with 44% predicting it will be the geographical area that will see the fastest growth in the life sciences industry in the next 10 years. More established European (13%) and North American (11%) industries trail behind in expected growth.
Respondents clearly see gene therapies as the most exciting therapeutic area, with 29% predicting it will see the fastest growth in the next 10 years. There is an interesting split between regions, with just 9% of European respondents choosing cell therapies versus 19% of North Americans.
The finance of drugs is seen as the biggest challenge facing the industry, with a combined 46% of respondents choosing cost of drug development (25%) or drug pricing/ reimbursement (21%). This is perhaps unsurprisingly most pronounced in North America, where the combined total goes up to 58%.
Oncology is the area that respondents are most excited about by far, with half predicting it will be the area in which treatment will most improve in the coming decade. With huge investment and numerous promising therapeutics being developed and approved, this will surprise few.
Within the treatment of oncology, respondents are fairly equally excited about gene therapies (27%), immunotherapies (25%) and cell therapies (21%) when asked about the biggest advances in the next decade.,