As the COVID-19 outbreak has halted the world, we are witnessing the life sciences industry come together and aggressively react to one of the gravest threats of our lifetime. The stock market’s reaction to the outbreak has been unprecedented with daily 1,000 point moves in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) becoming standard fare, and market volatility levels not seen since the height of the global financial crisis in late 2008.
Regardless of current uncertainties, it is clear that COVID-19’s long-term market impact on the life science sector will be transient, as the industry remains on the forefront of value creation. Along with addressing a growing aging population, life sciences companies’ innovations remain key in driving future global economic growth.
In fact, when overall markets plunged last month when the severity of the pandemic in the U.S. became clear, biopharma equities began to regain some of their valuation that was lost during the first days of the outbreak; an early indication of the industry’s strength. Regeneron saw its shares jump 10 percent throughout the month of March, a time where the company, along with multiple other multinational peers, worked vigorously to bring the world’s first COVID-19 treatments to fruition. As clinical trials, such as Gilead’s Remdesivir, quickly progress with nods of promising data, investors are already beginning to see the value in these investments when compared to the industry at-large. The DJIA has lost 17 percent of its value for the year, while various Life Science indexes are only down anywhere from 2 – 6 percent for the year.
While a plethora of uncertainty regarding near-term market performance remains, there will be strong demand and robust appetite for life science investments in the coming months, as markets continue to stabilize and the world begins to move forward. Scientific innovation and investment into next-generation medicines has never been more appreciated than now, and investors are seeing the first-hand value of developing life-saving therapies. COVID-19 has shined a light on how the life sciences industry protects the world by creating a better and safer place for all.
