Biotech progress report — a BioCentury podcast

IQVIA Biotech’s Megan Hooton joins BioCentury’s analysts to discuss the state of the biopharma sector at mid-year

A handful of encouraging signals is cause for cautious optimism for biotech headed into the second half of the year — companies have been able to parlay strong data into follow-on capital and M&A activity is picking up. That said, the IPO market continues to be closed and concerns about U.S. drug pricing and FDA stability continue to weigh on expectations for a robust near-term sector recovery.

Special guest Megan Hooton from BioCentury This Week sponsor IQVIA Biotech joins BioCentury’s analysts on a special edition of the podcast to discuss key indicators of progress for the biopharma sector. Hooton is president of IQVIA Biotech, a unit within IQVIA that provides clinical development services to biotechs and emerging biopharma clients.

In a wide-ranging conversation spanning the value of “emerging” biotechs to the ecosystem, applications of AI that could move the needle on clinical trial efficiency, and what it will take to bring down barriers to gene and cell therapies, Hooton notes that a 5% increase in the Phase II success rate, from  30% to 35%, “would mark a really positive inflection for this sector.”