Adoption of telehealth services has skyrocketed during the coronavirus outbreak and US experts are expecting the trend to continue post-pandemic, fundamentally transforming health care.

Opportunities in the cardiometabolic field are increasing, following a period of limited investment from larger biopharma players. Still, challenges remain, such as accessing funding at the earlier stages of development. 

Taking over at the Swiss firm as CEO in 2018, Vas Narasimhan set about creating an "inspired, curious and unbossed organization." Two years on, he has put the spotlight on several initiatives that are up and running on a number of fronts to achieve that goal.

Know your strengths, surround yourself with experts and ensure your solution “does what it says on the tin.” These are among the guiding principles of Christophe Bancel, co-founder of France’s biopolymer innovator TISSIUM, a health care start-up on the cusp of commercialization.

There is significant commercial potential on offer for the leading CAR-NK developers. While companies committed to continued CAR-T development will need to adapt and innovate in order to remain relevant, especially considering this disruptive new drug class.

Angeli Möller, recently spotlighted by In Vivo as a 2020 Rising Leader, has quickly moved up the ranks at Bayer and is now spearheading one of its key initiatives to bring artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies into the pharma business.

An interactive look at recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biopharma, medical device and diagnostics industries.

See how much the CEOs and R&D heads of the world’s biggest pharma companies get paid, and how those companies are performing.

What are the skills future life sciences leaders will need in order to rise to the top of biopharma and medtech companies? A recent BioTrinity industry panel debated the profile of tomorrow’s leaders.

Spearheading discussions with NICE, bluebird bio’s UK general manager Nicola Redfern has been central to efforts to introduce fresh reimbursement models within the health technology assessment process and commercial framework. Success could change the way cell and gene therapies are assessed and affect the outlook for many patients living with rare diseases.

In the next evolution of health care, the pharmaceutical industry needs to preserve its customers, not the direct to customer advertising campaigns.

Tony Humphreys of the European Medicines Agency explains the thinking behind the agency’s regulatory science strategy, why the PRIME scheme is to get a boost, and why the need to tackle health threats ranked so low in a stakeholder consultation.

This month’s column covers deals announced between 1-23 April 2020. 

During Q1, biopharmas brought in an aggregate $13.8bn in financing. M&A value reached $6.9bn, the majority from Gilead Sciences $4.9bn purchase of immuno-oncology firm Forty Seven. Alliances fetched $35bn in potential deal value, dominated by many Big Pharma tie-ups led by a $4bn discovery and development collaboration between AstraZeneca and Silence Therapeutics for siRNA therapeutics.

If a post-COVID-19 economic recovery starts properly in September, as some have suggested, how swift would a return to normal be for medtech and life sciences businesses? It depends what the new normal looks like, suggests life sciences legal firm Goodwin. But in the regulatory arena, agencies are working hard to keep market access a priority during the ongoing public health emergency.