EDITOR’S LETTER

This year has seen many changes: we had three different prime ministers in three months, mourned the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and welcomed a new monarch, King Charles, while still dealing with the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

In line with the changes this year has brought, Pharmafile has a fresh new look, with this edition introducing a new section of news that covers topics from mergers and acquisitions to R&D and approvals. Read more in our news round-up, starting on page 6, which includes news that J&J is buying Abiomed for over $17bn, Norstella and Citeline have merged to create a $5bn pharma tech firm and DJS Antibodies, an Oxford-based biotechnology company, has been bought by AbbVie for $255m.

We will also continue to bring you in-depth feature articles, in this issue featuring three areas: neurology, rare diseases, and cardiovascular and metabolic health.

Our neurology section includes articles on AI, unmet needs and challenges in neurology research and the importance of early treatment, with the cover article from Cumulus Neuroscience focusing on AI and digital technology in neurology.

Also in this section, Martin Citron from UCB talks about the challenges facing neurology and how the combination of new mechanisms, new platforms and new biomarker insights will hopefully inspire more success in the field.

In the rare diseases section, Michael Braunagel from Actigen talks about how the rare disease treatment market has been transformed in recent years and Giacomo Chiesi from the Chiesi Group looks at the challenges of studying and treating rare diseases, and the future of rare disease research.

Our third section on cardiovascular and metabolic health includes an article by Paul Nioi and Brendan Martin from Anylam on RNA-based therapeutics and the benefits for patient care and an article by Ian Crosbie from Sequana Medical looks at novel treatments for chronic heart failure with diuretic-resistant congestion.

Enjoy this issue!