With only weeks to go in 2022, the three major pharmas each had inked between 16 and 20 deals. Meanwhile, Pfizer has been less busy with 12 deals, but those include M&A totaling $18.2bn.

Pent-up trial demand during 2020 plus trial modernization strategies yields bumper performance in 2021 as research priorities revert to pre-pandemic trends.

China's biopharma firms including Hengrui Medicine and HUTCHMED actively pursue licensing partners for their drug assets as the economic downturn caused by domestic COVID flare-ups continues worsening. Meanwhile, there are some predictions that smaller biotechs in the country may need to tap into multinationals' deep pockets to raise new funds.

Novel candidate acquired from Ganymed in 2016 moves closer to first approval filing anywhere for a CLDN18-targeting antibody, and as a potential competitor for Opdivo in HER2-negative gastric cancer, following positive top-line Phase III results in the first-line combo setting. Results from GLOW trial in combination with CAPOX also awaited.