2024 comes with an 'extra' day for the life sciences industry to add up to its achievements and planning. While ‘Leap year babies’ still face medical records challenges across the globe, the day comes with its own sense of specificity!

For instance, 29th February is being celebrated as the Rare Disease Day world over, to raise awareness for rare diseases and improve access to treatment and medical representation for individuals with rare diseases and their families.

On the other hand, Japan-based Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma said that its licensing partner Daiichi Sankyo is rolling out an intravenous infusion formulation of its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatment Radicava (edaravone) in Brazil on February 29.

Korean firm Celltrion Healthcare had announced that its autoimmune disease treatment Zymfentra (the US product name for Remsima SC) is set to be launched in the United States on Feb 29, 2024.

If we turn back to previous years, although Feb 29 in 2020 was overshadowed by the COVID-19 clouds, it had its own relevance, when the US FDA chose the leap year day to issue a new, streamlined policy for certain laboratories to develop their own validated COVID-19 diagnostics.

Back in 2016, the leap year day saw Elsevier announcing the re-launch of one of Germany's oldest medical journals: ZEFQ. Simultaneously, in India,
Former Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs and Information and Broadcasitng, Late Arun Jaitley announced a New Health Protection Scheme in the Budget 2016-17, on this unique day.

While the list is long to highlight the relevance of the Leap Year Day, we hope to see positive developments within the life sciences industry shaping up today and for the next leap years- 2028, 2032, 2036, and beyond.