Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Pharma sector Impact - 04 August 2021

Globaldata's report on the impact of COVID-19 in packaging sector includes detailed coverage on the pharma sector analysis, COVID-19 impact and sector insights among others.

COVID-19 has now spread to over 198 countries with a total of more than 194 million confirmed cases and over 4 million deaths. The number of confirmed cases is the US is over 34 million, with cases again rising after sustained period of declines. As in many other countries, most new cases are of the Delta variant, with hospitalizations also on the rise (97% of those admitted are unvaccinated). Total COVID-19 vaccine doses administered has now surpassed the total number of confirmed cases, with a total of over 2.9 billion single vaccine doses administered. China leads in the total number of vaccinations, while Canada leads amongst top economies in percentage of population that has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

A concrete summary of the impact of COVID-19:

• Hiring prospects appear to have been gradually improving since April 2021

• Nearly 45% of employees report an increase in productivity during WFH

• Most offices will return to at least 50% capacity in the next six months

• 3 in 10 employees prefer to visit their office daily after the pandemic

• Technology will continue to change the way we work over the next three years

• Artificial intelligence is driving change in working practices

• Most respondents continue to work from home full-time

Sector insight:

• The race for effective treatments and vaccines continues. Currently, there are 5,370 clinical trials for COVID-19 and promising clinical data to continue to emerge for COVID-19 vaccines. While large trials have already had data readouts, vaccine manufacturing is underway and emergency approvals have been given for multiple vaccines. Clinical trials were disrupted at the height of the pandemic. Trial disruption is levelling off and disrupted trials saw a small dip, with 1,025 trials still disrupted and 602 Pharma/Biotech companies and CROs associated with disrupted clinical trials

• Stalled clinical trials created a working vacuum for CROs and CDMOs but disrupted trials are slowly starting to resume. CMOs and Excess Capacity Contract Manufacturers with secure supply lines will benefit from short-term boost in generic drugs manufacturing needed to treat COVID patients. Outsourcing partners must deal with issues surrounding a potential excess of client needs upon initiation of future trials, with guidance from regulatory agencies still pending

• Currently, payers are experiencing pressure to reimburse ICU care and eventually this could expand to include potentially expensive and unproven drugs if there is a suggestion that they might be effective in treating COVID-19. In addition, payer plans have evolved to include reimbursement of telemedicine as providers began to rely on this service during the pandemic. Reimbursement of telemedicine is likely here to stay

Download our free report for more detailed insights on the impact of COVID-19 in the Pharma sector.