Investors turn to biotech as vaccine roll-out cools sentiment on big pharma

Other sectors set to benefit as lockdown eases

Any halo earned from helping tackle the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to be short-lived for big pharma, according to asset managers who are turning their sights towards biotech and telehealth as the world slowly returns to normal.

On 8 December 2020, England became the first country to roll out a Covid-19 vaccine, a jab developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. In the months leading up to that, the healthcare sector took a leading role during the Covid-19 pandemic, with many investors backing firms that work to develop treatments for the virus. But now that more than 32 million people in the UK have received at least their first dose, the market is moving on. Investing in biotech: Where are we now and what is the outlook? For Peter Choi, senior research analyst at Vontobel, big pharma is sailing towards trouble. ...