The largest-ever rise in the number of active R&D companies, particularly in China, helped propel an unprecedented increase in the size of the biopharma pipeline in 2019. Meanwhile, the number of new active substances launched in their first market last year dropped as 2018’s superlative performance gave way to something more usual.

Public Company Edition: The usual mid-January surge in public offerings hasn't happened this year, since the SEC can't process new filings, but Alnylam, Acceleron and others apparently were prepared for a lengthy shutdown. Also, ARM reports cell and gene therapy financing data.

2019 could be a monumental year for the South Korean pharma industry, as several new drug assets await the green light from the US FDA.

Daiichi Sankyo pays $150m upfront to commercialize Esperion's cholesterol drug and combination in Europe, while Gilead enters major deal worth up to $785m with Korea's Yuhan to bolster its NASH portfolio. Samsung taps 3SBio to build its biosimilars business in China.