Aesther Healthcare Acquisition extended the deadline to merge with Ocean Biomedical, while Intrinsic Medicine no longer plans to go public by merging with a SPAC. In restructuring news, Otonomy begins liquidation, Celyad cuts last clinical program with cash running out and Clovis files for bankruptcy.

Beam is the latest allogeneic CAR-T developer to face a regulatory hold-up, but other candidates using its pioneering base-editing technology are now progressing.

Companies such as Novartis, Roche or Takeda are heavily invested in the advanced therapeutics field, usually spreading their bets across multiple modalities. The remaining challenges offer opportunities for the next wave of innovation to transform the field once again and make a dent in the larger market of common diseases and solid tumors.

Evolving challenges will keep the COVID-19 pipeline active, while oncology, immunology and CNS are areas also expected to see much progress in 2022. Industry executives look forward to the year in therapeutic R&D.