Deep Dive: Oncology 2021

This has probably been the toughest year for cancer researchers in memory.

As experts from the Institute of Cancer Research, Lucid Group, and Syneos Health discuss in this issue, funding gaps, paused trials and patients’ health anxiety will have reverberations impacting outcomes for years to come.

But it’s perhaps a testament to the sector’s strength that even among these challenges, all of our contributors see the huge potential for cancer research going forward. In this year’s ASCO roundup we look at the next generation of exciting cancer immunotherapies, Olivia Kersey from Prime Global tells us how patient insights can vastly improve oncology research, and speakers from ICON demonstrate how cell and gene therapy trials are becoming ever more sophisticated.

Looking more broadly, Healthware’s Kristin Milburn and Debiopharm’s Tanja Dowe discuss trends in digital health start-ups, and we highlight several digital companies shaking up healthcare and research – including Ampersand Health, Within3 and BrightInsight.

As long as all healthcare stakeholders can come together to build innovative solutions to post-COVID challenges, we can be confident there’s a bright future ahead for oncology research and the cancer patients it benefits.

George Underwood – editor, Deep Dive