Business as usual only three months ago has transformed into health care industry overdrive as biopharma and med-tech companies scramble to test and scale-up treatments, vaccines and diagnostics to address COVID-19.

A survey of 149 companies by Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development found more than two-thirds of clinical trial sponsors were using or piloting at least four different data sources in their clinical trials.

The Rare Disease Day, which takes place at the end of February each year, is designed to focus global attention on the need for therapies to treat patients suffering from devastating rare diseases. The most recent event represented the 13th year it has been held. Over that period, research and development in the area has come a long way, and there are now 420 companies around the world that are active in developing regenerative medicines and advanced therapies for the treatment of rare diseases, according to a new report released by the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM).

Regulatory decisions affecting biopharma products in development, including: Acacia, Alnylam, Amgen, Ascletis, Biocryst, Biohaven, Biomarin, BMS, Can-Fite, Cortexyme, Debiopharm, Eli Lilly, Enochian, Epizyme, Fibrogen, Forma, Genentech, Genmab, GSK, Heron, Horizon, Incyte, Innocoll, Inovio, Ionis, Janssen, Jazz, Kiadis, Kyowa Kirin, Logicbio, Lysogene, Merck, Mesoblast, Monopar, Nanobiotix, Neurosense, Novan, Novartis, Pharmamar, Phasebio, Protalix, Puma, Revance, Roche, Shionogi, Sirnaomics, Soligenix, Takeda, Trevena, Ultragenyx, United, Y-mabs, Zai Lab, Zogenix.

The importance of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) has not been lost on drug development companies. Recently, to help accelerate the discovery of therapies to treat COVID-19, several deals have been established to help deploy those tools.