Biopharma is rarely short on scientific promise. But in 2026, the questions facing the industry are increasingly practical: How can complex therapies be developed, manufactured, funded, and commercialized efficiently? How can companies move faster while staying compliant? And how can innovation reach patients in a market shaped by pricing pressure, supply chain risk, and shifting partnership models?
For Biopharma Vital Signs, we asked industry leaders for their views on the state of biotech and biopharma today – including the trends shaping development, the pressure points slowing progress, and the capabilities companies will need to build more resilient development strategies. Explore the full Biopharma Vital Signs series here.
In Part 1, we look ahead to BIO 2026 and ask:
What conversations will be most prominent, and why?
Tony Thomas, Director, Technical Consulting, Ecolab Bioprocessing; and Fiona Stack. Global Technical Consultant, Ecolab Life Sciences
BIO is often a good barometer to reflect where the industry is heading, and this year feels very focused on how we translate innovation into real-world impact. You’ll see a lot of discussion around next-generation therapeutics and increasingly complex modalities, but the conversation has moved beyond the science itself. The key question now is how to actually develop, manufacture and commercialize these therapies at scale.
There will also be a strong emphasis on collaboration, with business development, partnering, and investment reflecting how interdependent the ecosystem has become. No one company is solving these challenges alone, whether that’s advancing new therapies or building out manufacturing capacity.
Digital will be another big theme, particularly around AI and data. What we hear consistently from pharma customers is the need to move faster while staying fully compliant. That’s driving demand for tools that give better visibility into processes, support audit readiness, and ultimately help teams make quicker, more confident decisions without increasing risk.
Alongside that, there will be continued focus on policy, patient access and supply chains, especially as companies navigate how to bring therapies to market in a way that is both scalable and sustainable.
Taken together, the emphasis is shifting toward execution, how the industry turns innovation into something that can reliably reach patients.
Alison Clayton, Strategic Projects Director, Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services
I expect many of the conversations at BIO 2026 will centre on a common challenge facing the industry: how to translate scientific innovation into successful and sustainable development programmes.
The pace of innovation across biologics, advanced therapies and precision medicines remains incredibly strong, but organisations are operating in an environment where funding remains selective, and stakeholders are placing greater emphasis on execution. As a result, discussions are increasingly shifting from what is scientifically possible to how promising therapies can be developed, manufactured and commercialised efficiently.
I also expect supply chain resilience and manufacturing readiness to remain high on the agenda. Recent years have highlighted the importance of securing reliable access to specialised expertise, capacity and materials, particularly for complex products where development and manufacturing challenges can significantly impact timelines.
Finally, the role of technology and data will continue to generate significant discussion. While AI and digital tools offer considerable potential, the focus is increasingly moving beyond the technology itself towards how these capabilities can be applied in practical ways to improve decision-making, reduce risk and accelerate development.
I think BIO 2026 will reflect an industry focused not only on innovation, but on creating realistic pathways to bring that innovation to patients successfully.
Mike Ford, Director of Sales and Business Development, Kindeva
Conversations on the exhibition floor will center on overcoming fill finish capacity constraints and building supply chain resilience for sterile injectables. This will also lead to discussions about next-generation aseptic manufacturing capabilities, as industry leaders consider how to navigate evolving regulatory expectations, including Annex 1 compliance. There is growing interest in how real-time automation and isolator technology can improve consistency and reduce human intervention.
We are also expecting active discussions about advanced drug-device integration, with biopharma companies looking for expertise across different formats and service areas. Overall, the conversation will focus heavily on how to achieve rapid commercialization while managing these multi-layered technical demands.
Kevin Schaab, Sr. Drug Development Consultant, Quotient Sciences
We expect that conversations will focus on designing integrated development programs that meet evolving regulatory expectations while accelerating timelines and controlling costs. In the Phase 1 context, funding pressures are putting greater emphasis on generating early signals of clinical activity beyond healthy volunteers. This necessitates deliberate trade-offs, including streamlined and adaptive early-phase designs to reach proof-of-concept in patients more efficiently.
Sponsors need to make early formulation and manufacturing decisions that will hold up through clinical progression. That puts greater emphasis on fit-for-purpose development, process understanding, and selecting partners who can align CMC activities with clinical and regulatory milestones from the outset.
Greg Plunkett, CEO, Accelagen
At BIO 2026, I expect two themes to dominate discussion: the funding environment for biotech companies and the role of AI in reshaping development.
First, capital efficiency will remain front of mind. After the strong post-COVID investment cycle, the sector has faced a more constrained and selective funding environment. That has forced many companies to focus more sharply on runway, milestone discipline, and how to generate meaningful value with limited capital. A key question at BIO 2026 will be whether market conditions are improving and, if not, how companies can continue to advance programs with leaner operating models.
Second, AI will be a major topic across discovery, development, and manufacturing. The industry is moving beyond curiosity and into practical application, with growing interest in how AI can improve speed, decision quality, and resource efficiency. For biotech leaders, the key issue is no longer whether AI will influence development, but how quickly regulators, investors, and operating teams will gain confidence in AI-enabled approaches. The companies that combine innovation with credible regulatory execution are likely to attract the most attention.
Arya Mehrabanzad, Principal, Ampersand
The dominant conversation this year will be around AI. Last year's BIO had a lot of discussions like, "Can AI find drug candidates?" whereas now we are hearing more, "Where is the measurable ROI, and when?" I expect some very interesting discussions that should help us better understand the gaps between pilot deployments of new technologies and enterprise transformation.
I suspect M&A will be another major theme for the conference. Pharma and biotech M&A has been very strong in 2026 so far and we believe it is unlikely to slow down given the patent cliff. The China biotech dimension adds important complexity given the rapid pace of new Chinese drug development. While China’s leadership in chemistry has been long recognized, we can no longer ignore the country’s biology expertise, as demonstrated by recent world-class innovations in ADCs and metabolic diseases. China has also taken the lead with the largest share of global oncology clinical trials. This leads to both competition and to M&A/licensing opportunities, and given the geopolitical friction, a topic that should be at the forefront of BIO 2026.
Finally, underlying everything is regulatory uncertainty. I’m not sure we’ll be walking out of BIO 2026 with any clear answers, but this should be a major theme. We’ve been promised a faster and more efficient FDA that should promote innovation, and I do think BIO will be helpful for sharing best practices around new approval frameworks (e.g., NAMs, single pivotal trials, etc.). On the other hand, FDA turnover and instability remain a genuine concern, especially for novel modalities and complex therapeutics.
David Claveau, Vice President, Business Development, North America, Sygnature Discovery
I expect BIO 2026 conversations to centre on how the sector converts renewed optimism into durable progress. There are signs of recovery in biotech markets, including stronger M&A and public-market momentum, but that optimism is balanced by regulatory uncertainty, pricing pressure, competition from China-originated assets and continued capital discipline. AI will also be everywhere, but the conversation is maturing: people are less interested in generic claims and more interested in where AI changes actual decisions, improves reproducibility, or compresses timelines. I also expect significant discussion around partnership models, because few emerging biotechs can build every capability internally in the current funding environment. Finally, translation will be a major theme: how to generate the right data early enough to avoid expensive failure later. The common thread is productivity – not simply doing more science, but making better decisions faster across the development path.
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