BIO CEO panelist Rajeev Venkayya argued that the huge amount of investment in COVID-19 vaccines makes it possible for new players to challenge Comirnaty and Spikevax’s dominance.

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.

Following in the steps of Merck & Co. and GSK, Pfizer is turning to a Chinese partner to more broadly market one of its top vaccines in the country - but the US firm is going one step further.

Some of China's makers of COVID-19 antivirals are fast-tracking neutralizing antibodies and peptide fusion inhibitors in clinical trials, while vaccine developers are embroiled in a tougher situation against the mutating coronavirus.