Findings from Citeline’s latest report, Pharma R&D Annual Review 2026, highlight the continued U.S. leadership in the life sciences ecosystem. As the report acknowledges, life sciences mergers and acquisitions (M&A) play a critical role in preserving American leadership and delivering new treatments and cures to patients.
According to the report:
- The U.S. leads all other countries, currently advancing over 11,600 medicines – more than half of medicines in development worldwide.
- The U.S. is home to over 2,700 pharmaceutical firms, accounting for 41% of firms worldwide.
- Over 4,400 new drug projects entered the global pipeline in the past year alone, with 41% (1,809) originating in the U.S.
The report also underscores the important role of small and early-stage firms in spearheading new drug development – noting that more than 4,000 companies worldwide have just one or two drugs in development.
As PULSE has highlighted, these early-stage companies face unique pressures as they set out on the long, costly and high-risk journey to develop a new therapy.
- It can cost billions and take more than a decade to bring a new medicine to market.
- Nearly 80% of biotechnology companies operate without a profit.
- Roughly 90% of drug candidates fail before reaching patients.
That’s where M&A plays a unique and essential role in life sciences. Evidence shows that M&A is a positive mechanism for connecting early-stage drug candidates to the clinical, manufacturing and regulatory capabilities required to bring them to market.
- Drug candidates that undergo M&A are ~2x more likely to launch and ~3x more likely to launch as a novel drug.
- When smaller, less experienced companies undergo M&A with more experienced ones, their drug candidates are 3x more likely to launch and nearly 23x more likely to launch with a new mechanism of action.
Taken together, the data reinforce a clear point: the U.S. life sciences ecosystem is a diverse, highly competitive ecosystem where thousands of companies race to solve complex scientific problems for patients – but many won’t succeed on their own. The strength of this ecosystem depends on the many strong partnerships and collaborations that fuel innovation.
Therefore, antitrust policies must account for the unique and fundamental role of life sciences M&A and other pro-competitive partnerships. Policies that don’t risk chilling the development of new treatments and cures, to the detriment of patients and America’s global leadership.