The pandemic has reignited interest and investment in vaccines across a wide array of disease areas by big pharma and venture investors, a panel of BIO experts said.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a marked increase in sales of Sanofi’s LMW heparin, Lovenox, in the first quarter of 2021. The big pharma is also nearing late-stage clinical studies with two COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

Strong sales of Dupixent and its range of vaccines are expected to drive Sanofi’s financial results for the first quarter of 2021, although these are likely to have been adversely affected by currency exchange rate movements. Numerous data readouts are expected in the coming months from pipeline products.

French giant makes its biggest single investment to date in Asia as it prepares to build up regional vaccine production capacity, in part to help prepare for future pandemics.