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During the pandemic, huge internet businesses dominated the news and received a lot of attention. FAAMG, a new acronym established by Goldman Sachs, represents the genuine epidemic winners: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
The biotech business, which has gotten a lot of attention as a result of the vaccination race, is another prominent area that has gotten a lot of attention. However, biotech that deals with a variety of other issues, such as mental health, witnessed a huge increase in funding. The COVID-19 outbreak has been a surprising boon to the health and wellness industry in general.
As we begin to emerge from the shadow of the pandemic, the story of people gaining weight and developing mental health problems continues to loom large. These were big concerns even before the outbreak, and they will continue to be so afterward. Obesity has been on the rise for decades, but lockdown and COVID-19 worries have resulted in an increase in weight gain and mental health issues.
According to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association in February 2021, 61 percent of US people had unwanted weight changes, with an average gain of 15 pounds. According to a research conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) in July 2020, 53% of US individuals said the epidemic had a negative influence on their mental health.
The health-care sector’s success shows a strong long-term trend.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. During the pandemic, there was an infusion of financing and the development of health applications, companies, and start-ups, indicating a broad shift toward health. More people are looking for assistance, and increased investment in the area will benefit the general public for a long time.
The fitness sector is projected to be worth $100 billion, and it has recently shifted online, where it has flourished. Resistance bands have seen a 347 percent increase in sales, while dumbbells have seen a 725 percent increase.
There are over 250,000 fitness-related apps, with platforms and streaming assisting millions more. The streaming workout platform Neo U, for example, had a 600 percent increase in average daily subscriptions in the first week of the lockdown. Another example is Beachbody, which has been operational since 1998 but has seen a 200 percent increase in signups over that time.
In general, digital health enterprises have been in high demand. According to one survey, 70% of start-ups reported revenue that exceeded their estimates. According to MobiHealthNews, $13.8 billion was invested in the digital health sector in 2020, up from $7.2 billion in 2019.
Companies that deal with mental health have been in high demand.
Mental health has been thrown into the forefront after a year of job insecurity, lack of social contact, and fears about the virus itself. 41.1 percent of adults in the United States reported symptoms of depression or anxiety disorder, according to the National Center for Health Statistics and the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.
As a result, demand for mental health solutions has risen dramatically. According to a poll conducted by the Business Group on Health in mid-2020, 69 percent of large employers already offer online mental health resources, with that number expected to climb to 88 percent by the end of 2021.
Biotech has become a particularly attractive sector. Biotech investments in the UK increased from GBP1.3 billion in 2019 to GBP2.8 billion ($3.8 billion) in 2020. Last year, nearly $13 billion was reported to have been invested in biotech enterprises around the world.
The biotech industry’s R&D investment was already rising. BDO, a US consulting firm, observed that investments in the sector increased by 22% from 2018 to 2019. Biotech is now leading the healthcare market for the first half of 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. These patterns are likely to continue.
Cybin, a biotech company established in Canada, is an outstanding example of how pandemic demand can lead to long-term advantages. When the pandemic struck, the company had only been around for a year and was already making substantial success.
“There was already a major rise in mental health difficulties before the coronavirus arrived,” says Doug Drysdale, CEO of Cybin. “We wanted to aid individuals struggling to obtain effective treatment after seeing the effect of mental suffering on loved ones,” says the company’s founder. Our aspirations were to improve mental health, and we were already making fantastic progress thanks to an exceptional science team and commercial interest. Then came COVID-19, and our entire industry witnessed an even bigger increase in investment. Cybin, like many other businesses, was able to develop quickly thanks to additional finance. At the end of 2020, we raised C$88 million and went public. We were able to do a lot in a short period of time thanks to the additional funding. We conducted 20 preclinical trials for private molecule research, filed ten patent applications, and now have over 50 proprietary chemicals.”
“The pandemic has caused a lot of pain, but it also moved public attention to a sector that was in desperate need,” says Drysdale. Not only to those of us attempting to treat millions of people with mental illnesses, but to the entire health and wellness industry.” Cybin and firms like ours have made significant progress, thanks in large part to the epidemic, and the positive consequences of the treatments we are now able to bring to market will be seen for years to come.”
(c) Benzinga.com, 2021. Benzinga does not offer financial advice. All intellectual property rights are reserved./n
