C&EN’s Year in Pharma 2024

Credit: Madeline Monroe/C&EN/Shutterstock/CDC Public Health Image Library

Another year draws to a close, and as is traditional, C&EN reflects on what the pharmaceutical industry can learn from the past 12 months. The US Food and Drug Administration approved several long-awaited new treatment options this year, including first-in-class medicines. But the prices for those new drugs can be high, and access is unequal. According to the Access to Medicine Foundation’s 2024 Access to Medicine Index, despite improvements, the industry is still failing low- and middle-income countries.

Economic headwinds have continued this year, and investors stuck to known names and business areas they felt confident in. Changing administrations and geopolitics will affect the pharmaceutical industry. But the industry as a whole remained resilient in 2024 and will continue to deliver new solutions to patients in the year to come.