Back in mid-March, at the outset of stay-at-home orders across the country, we identified five key areas where we projected impacts to the Life Sciences Real Estate Sector from the COVID-19 virus and the local, state and national response to the pandemic. Three months later, as we approach the end of the second quarter of 2020, we have increased clarity about the impacts of COVID-19. The areas we addressed in March were lab productivity, expansion plans, development of new facilities, supply chain, the funding ecosystem and the regulatory process.

At the macro level, most of our observations today are consistent with what we reported in March. If anything, the Life Sciences sector has recovered from the shock and accelerated more quickly than anticipated. In addition, over the three months that have ensued, new themes have developed that provide a more nuanced outlook on the impacts to the Life Sciences sector that will play out over the remainder of the year and beyond. Of course, as we are writing this, stay-at-home and business operations directives are being relaxed across the country. There is uncertainty about whether the measures going forward will contain the spread of the virus because of inconsistent messaging and unpredictable public compliance to CDC and governmental direction.

This mid-year update “The Impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the Life Sciences Real Estate Sector” addresses observations in five key areas as we approach the end of 2020 Q2. Download the report here. 

About the Author:

Joseph Fetterman is a member of Colliers Life Sciences Practice Group. Working together with Michael Brown and Clifford Brechner, the team advises pre-clinical, clinical and mid-sized drug development companies with their real estate and facilities requirements at critical transitions, including initial commercial research and development, clinical trial production, commercial-scale manufacturing, facility disposition and lease restructuring.