More than 100 biopharma executives and experts told Scrip their predictions for therapeutic area advances in the coming year. The recent commercial success of GLP-1s in diabetes and obesity and their potential in further disease areas fuelled excitement around the metabolic space. Expectations were also positive in neurology following the launch of Leqembi for Alzheimer’s disease in 2023, while the multiple opportunities to improve cancer treatment kept oncology top of the pile overall.

Marketing applications for MenABCWY, zolbetuximab, crovalimab, macitentan/tadalafil, Coacillium, mRNA-1345, dasiglucagon and ustekinumab have been submitted to the European Medicines Agency for review.

The various triggers that case nausea and vomiting are conveyed to the brain via different pathways that converge to create a final common pathway leading to the vomiting center in the medulla region of the brain. Previous attempts to develop drugs that target this common pathway have failed in the clinic because they produced anxiety and panic attacks, but Epiomed Therapeutics Inc. thinks it has discovered the reasons for the anxiety and is developing a redesigned product devoid of this side effect.

At the 2007 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in November, the sparkle of new innovations was tarnished somewhat by questions about the rapid proliferation of advanced imaging technologies and their cost effectiveness. As a result both new and old technologies are facing an uphill battle to prove their worth in a heavily scrutinized economic environment.