Addressing health care inequities, providing a nurturing environment for employees and learning from the pandemic were among the aims expressed by executives surveyed by Scrip.

The COVID-19 pandemic drove huge shifts in clinical trial practice and the transformation is expected to continue even after the global health emergency abates. Industry leaders sharing their predictions around clinical development homed in on decentralized trials, digitization and data tools as key topics for 2022.

Many industry leaders expect broad progress in the field of RNA technologies following the rapid and successful roll-out of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 last year. Genetic medicines of various types, emerging platforms for tackling previously “undruggable” targets and the microbiome were among other areas singled out as areas to watch in 2022.

The eradication of cervical cancer is on the horizon, stirring further competition between biopharma companies developing novel cancer vaccines.