In 2020, In Vivo launched its annual Rising Leaders list to spotlight talent across the life sciences industry. The editorial team selected 30 individuals from across the biopharma, medtech, academic and healthtech sectors. Here we revisit the class of 2020 and see where they are now.

Public Company Edition: The last biopharma IPO in the US was on 17 February and none have been scheduled, so far, for March. Also, another SPAC merger is called off, Travere sells $275m worth of notes and Xeris secures $150m in new debt, while Ovid, Passage Bio and others are cutting jobs. 

AbbVie pays $130m up front with up to $870m in earnout potential for UCB spinout focused on SV2A modulators. BioNTech gets rights to preclinical TCR candidates for solid tumors from Medigene.

Tim Guilliams, CEO of Healx, talks about the company’s mission of creating from existing drugs new options for rare disease patients. The company is using artificial intelligence to find combination treatments against rare conditions, while working closely with patient groups as key partners in the development process. The goal: faster development timelines and cheaper therapies for patients.