One hundred billion dollars. That is the combined revenue of the top 10 pharmaceuticals in 2020, marking the first year in which this threshold has been crossed. AbbVie’s Humira easily retained its lead in 2020 with $20.3bn in sales. Gilead Sciences’ HIV triple combo Biktarvy was the fastest climber, entering the top 10 in eighth place after 53.2% growth in a year, while Avastin, Enbrel and Rituxan fell out of the list.

Venture capitalists and industry executives discussed strategies for placing smart bets on emerging gene therapy companies during a recent virtual panel.

Deal-making and financing activities are on the rise for liquid biopsy diagnostic products in 2021 despite questions remaining around whether the technology can unseat standard-of-care biomarker and imaging tests.

Building a robotics infrastructure "is the only way to make sure we generate data of sufficient quality at the speed and scale required, and now everybody in the pharma industry is very excited about the idea of end-to-end automation." So says Martin-Immanuel Bittner, CEO of Arctoris.

Sweden-based Elicera Therapeutics is developing next-generation oncolytic viruses and “fourth-generation” CAR-T cells. CEO Jamal El-Mosleh sat down with In Vivo ahead of the company’s IPO.

Expanding partnerships with CROs, the COVID-19 lockdown, an eager FDA and an industry desire for faster and more diverse clinical trial recruiting helped Science 37, a decentralized clinical trial company, nail down plans to go public. Science 37 CEO David Coman spoke with In Vivo about the reasons for going public via SPAC, and why decentralization is a “prerequisite to operating a clinical trial today.” 

In this installment of our VC Playbook series, In Vivo sits down with Isabelle de Cremoux, CEO of Seventure. The company has been a pioneer investor in the microbiome space, which Cremoux believes has now reached a turning point.

Reaching deep and being resourceful were the in-demand attributes that medtech industry leaders brought to bear when the COVID-19 pandemic stretched health care providers almost to breaking point.

Royal Philips anticipated a degree of negative sentiment from health system managers about the outlook for innovation and progress in health care delivery when it polled the provider C-suite for its 2021 Future Health Index report. It was surprised by the actual outcome.

An in-depth survey of 2,000 patients and caregivers focused on understanding experiences associated with branded prescription drugs provides important insights into where and how pharma companies can improve.

Head of Amgen’s inflammation business, Kave Niksefat, gives insight into how the 40-year-old biotech maintains its culture of innovation and avoids falling into the “trap” of bureaucracy.

The pandemic has brightened pharma’s image, but drug pricing is still high on the political agenda. For US and European politicians, the health crisis has heightened the tension between supporting innovation and controlling rising costs.

Four $1b+ alliances were penned in May. Topping the list was Bristol-Myers Squibb’s deal with Agenus under which BMS will be granted a global exclusive license to the late-preclinical antibody program AGEN1777 along with a second undisclosed target. Agenus received a $200m up-front payment and could get up to $1.36bn in development, regulatory, and commercialization milestones, plus tiered royalties in the low double-digit to mid-teen range.

In Vivo's Deal-Making column is a survey of recent health care transactions listed by relevant industry segment – In Vitro Diagnostics, Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals – and then categorized by type – Acquisition, Alliance, or Financing. This month’s column covers deals announced in May 2021. Data provided by Biomedtracker.

Following accelerated approval of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab in the US, we look back at 10 of the FDA’s most controversial drug approval decisions, from Addyi to Zohydro.