LETTER FROM THE EDITORS By Pooja Shah
Welcome to the final edition of PIPELINE for 2021, the publication of which was delayed slightly. This means the new year has already begun and we hope it’s started well for you. Before we get on to what 2022 has in store for PIPA, I just wanted to reflect on 2021. With COVID-19 - and the uncertainty it brought along with it - continuing to hang around, 2021 was another year where life felt on hold and isolating for many. However, the rollout of vaccines and gradual easing of restrictions meant that a degree of “normality” started to kick in for many of us, which we hope brought with it some long-awaited positivity.
interest in PV was fuelled further when a review by the MHRA found, from ongoing safety surveillance, that of the 20 million people who had received the Oxford– AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK up to 31 March 2021, 79 people had suffered rare blood clots – 19 of whom died. As a result, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that under-30s should be offered an alternative jab to the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine due to the evidence linking it to rare blood clots. September saw the rollout of the booster vaccines and, in November, the Omicron variant emerged.
Not only did 2021 see the introduction of new vaccines and therapies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, we shouldn’t forget the huge amount of research that is continually ongoing in other areas to provide hope for many living with incurable or life-limiting conditions. For example, in March 2021, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved a gene therapy, Zolgensma, for the treatment of severe spinal muscular atrophy in babies. At £1.79m, the drug is reportedly one of the most expensive to ever be granted use by the NHS.
In other news, we saw the demise of Prince Philip, an unveiling of a statue of Princess Diana at Kensington Palace by her two sons, and a State of the UK Climate report, published by the Met Office, which concluded that 2020 was the third warmest, fifth wettest and eighth sunniest year on record. According to the authors of the report, this, and the trend since 1990, showed climate change is already happening in the UK. Continuing this theme, the UK hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 13 November. In sport, England made it to
The importance and value of pharmacovigilance was also highlighted internationally when reports on the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines where published. The
1
