Boyds reports strong growth despite biotech sector headwinds
Global drug development consultancy Boyds has reported robust revenue growth for the financial year ending March 2026, despite the slowdown in the global biotech and pharma markets.
Established in 2005, Boyds provides specialist consultancy services to an international client base, supporting the development of new, cutting-edge medicines and medical devices for patient benefit.
By leveraging its specialist clinical and regulatory expertise in novel medicinal products, including cell and gene therapy development, Boyds has successfully navigated uncertainty across its clients’ markets, which have faced declining investment and rising costs.
The company, which has offices in Cambridge, Crewe, Dublin and Pennsylvania, has continued to invest in its people and capabilities, welcoming ten new colleagues across its Regulatory Affairs, Clinical & Medical Affairs, Clinical Operations, Finance and HR teams to meet growing client demand, enhance its specialist expertise and support the company's continued growth.
Professor Alan Boyd MBE, Chief Executive Officer at Boyds, said:
We are proud not only to have successfully navigated challenging market conditions but to have emerged stronger, delivering significant growth, attracting exceptional talent and strengthening our client base throughout this period.
We are experiencing strong demand from returning clients, as well as from new biotechs and small pharma companies facing increasingly complex development challenges. At a time when rising costs, market uncertainty and regulatory complexity - including changes at the FDA - are putting additional pressure on the sector, clients need high-quality support that can help them solve problems quickly and keep development programmes moving in a timely and cost-effective way.
Dr Neil Fish, Boyds’ Chief Business Officer, commented:
Our resilience is testament to the strength of our governance structure, our ability to anticipate market challenges, the performance of our dedicated teams, and Alan’s visionary leadership.
When more than 90% of new therapies fail and every delay costs more than time, it is more important than ever for biotechs to work with a partner who can navigate the choppy waters of drug development – anticipating challenges and charting the right course, rather than taking a reactive approach.
The need for expert guidance is becoming even more apparent as we see more organisations turn to AI to draft regulatory dossiers, only to then require expert support to identify gaps, address issues and get them back on track. This is becoming a bigger part of our work and is where the expert human judgement and experience of the Boyds team can make a real difference.
Alan adds:
Since Boyds was founded in 2005, uncertainty has been part of the landscape we help our clients navigate. We began by supporting life sciences companies and academic groups to translate promising science into medicines. At the time, cell and gene therapy was a brave new frontier, and Boyds was at the cutting edge, helping clients push the boundaries of medicine while development and regulatory pathways were still evolving.
Since then, we have built unrivalled expertise in cell and gene therapy, helping take 15 novel treatments from concept through to patients. Boyds is now increasingly the go-to drug development partner for novel technologies across a range of areas from women’s health to rare disease, where patient populations may be small, but the impact of disease can be profound.
