Evolving challenges will keep the COVID-19 pipeline active, while oncology, immunology and CNS are areas also expected to see much progress in 2022. Industry executives look forward to the year in therapeutic R&D.

New VC deals include a $60m series C-1 round for DiCE Molecules a day before it filed paperwork to support a $100m IPO and a $100m financing for China’s IONOVA Life Science. Also, RenovoRx was the 84th company to go public in the US this year and ADC Therapeutics executed a $325m royalty deal. 

As the use of breast conserving lumpectomy expands as a treatment for early-stage breast cancer, interest has surged in alternatives to whole breast irradiation. Follow-on radiation treatment is crucial to the success of this therapy, but a significant number of women are either unable or unwilling to undergo the typical treatment course involving five to seven weeks of daily radiation therapy. The device industry is responding with technologies aimed at delivering post-lumpectomy radiation therapy in a more convenient, potentially safer way.