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 share their expectations and hopes around the multi-faceted topic of patient access to medicines. From health inequities to value assessment and reimbursement trends, expectations for change abound.

Astellas Pharma US accounts for roughly one-third of the parent company’s annual revenues with a growing focus on immuno-oncology. The unit’s president discusses lessons from the pandemic, racial disparities in health care and business development.

A singular focus on defeating COVID-19 will likely dominate the biopharma agenda at the beginning of 2021 and will determine how quickly the industry, and world, can bounce back to something like normalcy. New digital capabilities and learnings will continue to emerge as the pandemic ebbs, and strong industry balance sheets will keep the deal volume moving, according to experts and executives.