U.S. biopharmaceutical export volume 2002-2021

The value of U.S. biopharmaceutical exports was estimated to be at some 83 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. The export value of biopharmaceutical goods quadrupled in the period between 2002 and 2021.

The challenges of the biopharmaceutical industry

As of April 2020, approximately 4,500 biopharmaceutical medicines were in development in the United States, with around 540 being developed to treat some forms of neurological disorders. The cost of developing a medicinal product has grown in recent decades, resulting in annual increases in the combined research and development costs of companies based in the United States. One reason for the rising costs is that clinical trials have become more complex: the number of data points collected during a typical latter-phase clinical trial increased significantly between 2005 and 2015.

What are the differences between pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals?

The pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries both manufacture products that treat and prevent medical conditions, but the method by which the products are created varies between the two. One of the main distinctions is that pharmaceuticals are inherently chemical-based products made using chemical methods, whereas biopharmaceuticals are made from living organisms using biological processes. Today, most of the big pharmaceutical companies manufacture both pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals.