The total number of pharmaceutical licensing agreements completed between June 2008 and July 2009 declined 17% year over year to 661, according to EvaluatePharma. Oncology remained the top therapeutic area for licensing agreements, with 132 deals, down 18% from the previous year. Compared to previous periods, more oncology deals focused on earlier stages. The number of agreements for discovery or preclinical programs rose 100% to 51, as more biotech companies sought cash. Deals for biotech drugs, mostly monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), totaled 103. Pharmaceutical companies are targeting mAbs because of the success of drugs such as Rituximab and because they face less possibility of generic competition. Among small molecules, agreements for kinase inhibitors drove valuations. EvaluatePharma forecasts oncology therapeutic sales to increase 6% annually from 2008 to 2014.

Source: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery