Global research and development for preventative vaccines and therapeutics to treat COVID-19 have progressed at a rapid pace. Still, key issues remain and to the dampen the effects of virus in 2022, even greater collaboration is needed.

Appili brings in AiPharma to help with US/Canadian development of Fujifilm’s potential COVID-19 preventative/therapeutic. Other recent tie-ups include CinFina/Janssen, Bone/Impant, Bayer/Gubra, Novartis/Theragnostics, Grifols/Biotest and more.

Most roads led to India in 2020 when it came to deals to expand access to COVID-19 therapies, but the challenging year also saw significant private equity interest and there are expectations of more action ahead in the new year.

Plus deals involving Lilly/Daiichi Sankyo, Humianigen/KPM Tech, Telix/China Grand, Appili/Fujifilm, BioInvent/CASI, Osotec/Adel, Neumentum/Nuance, Takeda/HemoShear and Quantum Genomics/Qilu.