The number of drugs in development has fallen for the first time since the mid-1990s, according to a Citeline report. While methodological changes may have affected the result, the dip highlights a period when drugmakers trimmed their pipelines and cut the number of new projects starting development.
Citeline, which has tracked global drug development since the 1980s, has witnessed decades of growth in the number of drugs in development. The figures cover everything from new molecules in preclinical testing to approved products being evaluated in additional indications. From 2001 to 2025, the number of drugs in development increased every year, rising from 5,995 to 23,875.
Then the trend reversed. Citeline calculated that 22,940 drugs were in development at the start of 2026, down 3.9% on that time last year. The dip partly reflects a change in the company’s data collection systems, which it said likely artificially inflated the 2025 figure.
Yet that explanation only shifts the timing of the slowdown in the pipeline expansion. Accounting for the potentially anomalous 2025, Citeline said the number of drugs in development has “probably been fairly flat over the past few years.” If that assessment is accurate, the industry’s overall pipeline has plateaued at just under 23,000 molecules since 2024.
The number of drugs entering the pipeline fell 1.3% last year. Oncology remained the most active area of new drug development, accounting for 38.6% of programs joining the pipeline. Neurological disease is an increasingly active area. Having accounted for 12.7% of new candidates in 2023, neurological disease contributed 13.8% in 2024 and 14.4% in 2025.
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Roche had the most drugs in development, 262, largely because former pace-setter Pfizer axed assets, according to the report. Pfizer fell to No. 3 in the rankings after cutting its R&D pipeline from 271 to 257 molecules. AstraZeneca leapfrogged Pfizer and Novartis, adding 20 candidates to its pipeline to climb to No. 2.
Novartis fell to No. 5 after trimming 10 programs, overtaken by Sanofi’s expanding pipeline.
Large drugmakers typically disclose programs only after they enter the clinic, meaning the data offer an incomplete snapshot of how pipelines are changing.
Across the 25 companies with the largest pipelines, the total number of assets in development increased by 32. However, that figure is inflated by the addition of 30 programs to BioNTech’s pipeline. Among the top 15 companies, the number of active assets fell by 10.