How Can Biopharma Keep Its Balance? EY Biotech Beyond Borders Report 2026 (EY)

Summary

• In 2025, the biotech industry hit US$232b in revenues, with a record 72 companies generating over US$500m in sales.p.3
• Venture capital raised US$20.6b in 2025.p.3
• Biotech revenue grew 13% to US$232b, a third successive year of growth, while debt financing jumped 47% in 2025.p.5
• Deal signings reached US$36b in the first quarter of 2026, compared with US$100b over the whole of 2025.p.6
• The share of revenues going to early-stage companies fell to a decade low of 59% in 2025, with early-stage VC rounds dropping to 353.p.21
• In the US, the number of public biotechs has plunged by nearly a quarter since the 2022 peak, and around 50% have two years or less of cash remaining.p.23
• 39% of US biobucks flowed to China in 2025.p.17

Key insights

1. The industry generated another US$4.3b in VC investment in the first quarter of 2026.p.6
2. Up to 56% of products in key therapeutic areas such as oncology miss sales projections in increasingly crowded marketplaces.p.14
3. Under the Pfizer agreement, the company announced it would invest an additional US$70b into US R&D and capital projects.p.9
4. Companies that struck deals with the US administration pledged around US$370b in investments into the US.p.9
5. Contingent value rights tied to clinical and commercialization milestones are increasingly used to close valuation gaps in M&A.p.24
6. US and European biotech net income was (9) in US$b, the third consecutive year of negative net income.p.31