In Vivo talks to investors, analysts and companies in rare disease about the challenges they face to innovate and to grow.

The acceleration of efforts to increase diversity among clinical trial subjects is expected to continue in 2023. Furthermore, many executives hope for greater inclusivity within companies, from new recruits to leadership.

Private Company Edition: The latest $100m-plus VC financings include $112.5m for PepGen, Deep Genomics’ $180m series C round and a $166m series D for Rakuten Medical. Also, Lumira Ventures raised a $220m fourth fund and will manage a separate $35m fund backed by Angelini Pharma.

The next-generation DMD drug showed dramatic improvement on exon dystrophin and exon skipping, but small numbers and adverse events give pause.