In this issue

In September, the World Health Organization’s director-general called for an extension of the moratorium on Covid-19 vaccine boosters to enable every country to vaccinate at least 40% of its population.

But despite this plea, wealthier nations including the UK, US and France have progressed with their booster programmes. Consequently, serious questions have been raised over the ethical implications of prioritising vaccinated populations over those less-wealthy areas that have yet to receive the first dose.

To find out more, we take a look at the reasoning behind booster programmes to understand why they may be needed and the criticisms against introducing them.

Also in this issue, we get to grips with the realities of optimising real-world data in the fight against rare diseases, find out why billionaires in the tech space are turning to pharma in the pursuit of a cure for ageing, speak to Tools4Patients CEO Dominique Demolle about removing the risk of the placebo phenomenon in clinical trials, and much more.

All this, plus the latest industry trends and innovations from GlobalData experts and analysts.

Eloise Mclennan, editor