HSBC’s mid-year report signaled the challenges that many small and mid-sized biotech companies have shared; first financings declined in Q2 of 2025 and entrepreneurs and companies have had to make tough staffing decisions and adjust their pipelines and programs. While interest rates have started to lower, macroeconomic uncertainties remain in addition to the risk embedded in developing novel medicines. This session will begin with an overview of financing in 2025 followed by a discussion on how companies and investors have remained nimble. The role of venture capital and how family offices are participating in financing will also be featured.

Expansion in the target landscape, from TL1A and beyond, has accelerated progress in I&I drug development with multibillion-dollar M&A across the past two years attracting more funding for programs in this space.  This panel will explore the landscape of targets and indications showing the most promise to address unmet patient needs at large scale.

GLP-1 analogs have already rewritten treatment standards and changed patients’ expectations related to obesity.  Evidence continues to build that such pathways can improve cardiometabolic health more broadly and treat seemingly unrelated disease areas.  This points to new cellular and systemic approaches with implications for longevity R&D as well.  This panel will discuss the connections between clinical evidence and the discovery work revealing new metabolic insights.

More than a third of US licensing deals this year have involved assets sourced from China, as accelerating growth in such deals attracts investor attention and regulatory scrutiny. This panel will examine how competition is affecting asset valuations, how deals structures are evolving, and regulatory changes regarding cross-border clinical data security liabilities applicable not just to operators but investors also.

The pace of US biotech IPOs stalled for much of 2025 but reductions in interest rates corelate with an uptick in new offerings as investors reconsider the risks and returns from new medicines in this dynamic commercial landscape.  This session will examine which technologies, therapeutic areas, and types of messages are most resonating with IPO investors.

As PDUFA VIII negotiations begin and on-going debates on the best way to ensure patients can access medicines continue, biotech executives and investors are seeking clarity on how policy will impact their operational and investment decisions. Leaders from BIO and Washington policy and regulatory experts will share insights on what is known about developments at FDA, CMS, HHS and briefings with elected officials to create a policy and regulatory environment that leads to the shared goal of the best health outcomes for patients.

While deal volumes have adjusted following the influx of capital during the pandemic, there has still been significant activity as pharma continues to assess overall strategy and biotech companies seek partners to continue progress in the clinic with the goal of commercialization. An overview presentation on deal trends will open this discussion, followed by pharma BD leaders and biotech companies that have partnered with them to offer perspective on navigating the complexities of dealmaking.

When companies are not interested in pursuing venture rounds or equity offerings, alternative investment sources can provide critical capital for executing the development projects needed to collect the data necessary to further de-risk your pipeline. This panel will feature case examples on the decision processes behind debt financing, royalty financing (even for pre-commercial companies), and other capital raising sources.