Inside the Industry: Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Life Sciences Industry

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across industries globally continues to surface, and they’ve readjusted their operations to tackle the challenges. As on 17^th June, there have been more than 8.1 million reported cases of COVID-19 in more than 185 countries and nearly 445,000 deaths. Within the healthcare sector, the life sciences industry has been directly hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, and companies around the world are rooting for the development of the potential vaccine.

Due to closed manufacturing sites in countries such as China and the U.S., the global supply chain of medicinal products, including active pharmaceutical ingredients, has witnessed significant impact. Moreover, the surging demand for certain medical equipment and products, such as respirators, diagnostics products, and medical masks, is another rising concern for the industry.

Based on the products and offerings, the following are the implications of the novel coronavirus on the life sciences industry:

1. The implication associated with vaccines is that caution needs to be exercised in ‘fast-tracking’ any vaccine from laboratories to the market as the medium-to-long term effects of such vaccines might not have been extensively studied.
2. In the context of the supply chain, it must be understood that globalization and integration increased vulnerabilities for certain products. Also, the geographical concentrations of production and logistics influence the supply chain and logistics in the industry.
3. In terms of research and development, both short- and long-term R&D can be highly crucial in managing the pandemic.
4. Lastly, in case of testing kits, the tests that have rapidly emerged, are mainly based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR), during the COVID-19.

Further, according to industry experts, it might take a minimum of 12 to 18 months for a vaccine to be available. Most of these platforms are not currently the basis for licensed vaccines. However, expertise in areas such as oncology is encouraging developers to exploit the opportunities that next-generation approaches offer for increased speed of development and manufacture.

A remarkable feature of the vaccine development landscape for COVID-19 is the range of technology platforms being evaluated, including nucleic acid (DNA and RNA), virus-like particle, peptide, viral vector (replicating and non-replicating), recombinant protein, live attenuated virus, and inactivated virus approaches.

Find out more about the recent developments of the potential COVID-19 vaccine and access the complete document, click here.

BIS Research Analyst Notes

We’re on a mission to harness the potential of disruptive technologies to make businesses thrive in today’s digital age. As a leading market intelligence provider, we’ve taken the responsibility of providing credible information to companies worldwide and help them navigate out of these times of crisis. Straight from the desk of our analysts, these research notes are designed to highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global trade and industries.