Around 100 executives highlight the hot areas to watch on the R&D front in 2021. From cancer to CNS and from regenerative medicine to real world data, expectations are high on many fronts.

Executives expect the changes wrought by necessity in the face of a global pandemic to have lasting effects, both positive and negative, on the biopharma sector. Here they share their predictions for the coming year.

Roche’s first-in-class one-dose antiviral Xofluza has been approved for marketing in the EU to treat influenza in patients aged 12 years or over, and for post-exposure prophylaxis.

Roche’s Phesgo may lower healthcare costs in Europe for treating breast cancer following its approval by European Commission. Other just-approved products nearing the EU market are ViiV’s Vocabria, to be used with Janssen’s Rekambys/Edurant, as a long-acting injectable HIV therapy, and Aimmune’s peanut allergy therapy, Palforzia.

The European Commission has extended the indications for Janssen’s Tremfya to include psoriatic arthritis, and those for BMS’s Opdivo to include gastroesophageal cancer.

Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly’s SGLT2 inhibitor Jardiance (empagliflozin) reduces cardiovascular deaths and hospitalizations in certain heart failure patients regardless of whether they have diabetes, and regulatory submissions are expected for the additional indication later this year.

MyoKardia is building up its organization to prepare for commercialization of mavacamten, a potential first-in-class agent for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The European Commission’s approval of GlaxoSmithKline’s Blenrep is one of the first major fruits of a refocused pipeline and development strategy at the big pharma company.

With the first approval in the bag for its lead product, Idefirix, from the European Commission, Sweden’s Hansa Biopharma is planning to launch the product in Europe using its own medical and commercial organization in core markets.