For the second time, the biopharma industry’s largest event will be held virtually as BIO Digital 2021, with pandemic preparedness and infectious diseases a running theme throughout many of the scheduled sessions.

After a flurry of activity in December, when the FDA approved seven new molecular entities (NMEs), the total of novel drugs that were given the green light this year reached 48, a number that ranks third behind the record 59 new medicines the agency approved last year and 53 in 1996.