Welcome to the March issue of Pharmafocus.

This month has seen some exciting developments in pharma, from Scottish researchers using waste molecules from certain types of algae to cure the common cold (page 5) and Ethicon undertaking the first robot-assisted kidney stone removal (page 9), to the bankruptcy petition filed by a unit of Johnson & Johnson (page 8) and AI research that discovered a drug candidate for liver cancer in only 30 days (page 12).

In this issue we bring you an interview with Amarin’s Scott Curley that focuses on cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is the current leading cause of death worldwide and in the article Scott talks about the lessons learned during COVID-19 about the best ways to support patients with CVD (page 14).

Also in this issue, Nikunj Desai from ACG explains the importance of efficient supply chains in the pharma industry and the resulting improvements (page 17), while Rhian Linney from Galapagos UK and Ireland shares her thoughts about the vital role of the patient voice in autoimmune diseases and the work the company is doing in this area, and its focus on rheumatoid arthritis (page 16).

I hope you enjoy this issue.

Betsy Goodfellow