Chaos wrought by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A heavy workload and continuing resource constraints at the European Medicines Agency. Nonetheless, a record number of novel drugs and vaccines were cleared for marketing in the EU last year.

Among other Asia deals, Takeda adds to pair of recent gene therapy tie-ups with a CNS-focused cell therapy partnership with Immusoft; earlier it licensed ex-US rights to JCR’s Hunter syndrome drug.

Health technology assessment body NICE has also issued guidances rejecting three products.

Regulators have approved Mirum's IBAT inhibitor as the first medication for a genetic disorder which affects up to 2,500 children in the US.