August U.S. healthcare govt grants, clinical trials & NIH outlays increase Y/Y, says Baird
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U.S. healthcare government grants, clinical trials and outlays from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for Aug. all posted an increase Y/Y, according to Baird Equity Research's monthly update published on Sept. 13.
In Aug., NIH outlays increased ~4% Y/Y and 7% vs July to $3.47B, after a 5% Y/Y growth and an 8% Y/Y growth in July and June, respectively.
"We note we haven't seen precise correlation between NIH outlays and quarterly academic/government results, but nonetheless view consistent increases as thematically positive," said Baird research analysts Catherine Ramsey Schulte and Anju Mampilly, and Baird research associate Thomas Peterson.
Clinical trials listed on clinicaltrials.gov increased about 10% Y/Y in Aug. and about 1% compared to July to 426,507. If the growth continues with this trajectory, it would imply about 440,007 registered clinical trials at the end of 2022, which would be a 10.1% Y/Y growth over 2021.
The fastest growing keyword among clinical trials during Aug. was "sequencing", which increased 19% Y/Y, Baird said.
As of Sept. 13, there were 8,230 trials related to COVID-19 and 1,594 suspended trials, versus 8,386 trials and 1,594 suspended trials as of Aug. 31. Coronavirus infections in the U.S. have been on a downward trend recently, however the country is gearing up for a potential fall and winter wave of cases. 
U.S. government grants as listed on grants.gov increased ~7% Y/Y, but were about flat compared to July-end. The fastest growing keyword among grants during Aug. was "biomarker".
Companies covered by Baird: Agilent Technologies (A), Avantor (AVTR), Bio-Techne (TECH), Castle Biosciences (CSTL), Danaher (DHR), Exact Sciences (EXAS), Illumina (ILMN), Maravai LifeSciences (MRVI), NanoString Technologies (NSTG), Natera (NTRA), PerkinElmer (PKI), Thermo Fisher (TMO), Waters (WAT).