2021 saw a record number of novel drug launches and the size of the pipeline topped 20,000 candidates for the first time, new analysis shows, while China came of age as a pharma player.

The company’s emphasis on artificial intelligence has played a leading role in development of lipid nanoparticles enabling delivery of mRNA to lung tissue under a partnership with Vertex.

Operational actions, organizational responses and clinical development model improvements led to a 26-month acceleration, on average, in a set of COVID-19 vaccine pivotal trials versus similarly sized pre-pandemic studies, with the database lock and analysis stage delivering dramatic gains, a study by IQVIA Institute indicates. Can these benefits be recapitulated across the portfolio in the post-pandemic era?

The company will shift development of INO-4800 to a booster strategy. It also announced it must conduct additional studies of the cervical dysplasia drug VGX-3100 after an FDA meeting.