Earlier this month the team jetted off to San Francisco where the world’s biggest healthcare investment symposium was taking place once again.
According to the Managing Director of Mx, Alastair Shaw, this year’s J. P. Morgan healthcare Conference had a more optimistic mood and certainly felt like the 2023-24 downturn was finally coming to an end. While the term ‘cautious optimism’ has been used frequently in recent years, this time it felt closer to reality.
Below, we’ve outlined our four key takeaways from the three-day conference, including hot topics, concerns, networking events and upcoming trends for the year ahead.
It’s safe to say that the general sentiment at JPM this year was one of positivity for the year ahead. According to the team, the majority of founders and CEOs were confident about hitting their funding targets for 2026 and therefore were in high spirits about their milestones and moving through new phases of growth.
Many also mentioned plans for moving into clinical trials this year with potential for partnership deals and asset transfers. It felt that, financially, things were beginning to look up after the challenging post-pandemic period.
That being said, investors are remaining highly selective about what they invest in. And by searching for more developed assets that are low-risk, early-stage biotech companies may be left struggling to find the capital they need to move forward.
AI was still a huge topic of conversation... but the hype had definitely died down. In fact, many were expressing their doubts and uncertainties about data quality and reliability – as well as the difficulties that arise when AI-driven outputs need to be reviewed by regulatory bodies.
While AI is not the buzzword it once was, interest remains high. The potential for enhancing efficiency and decision-making is still there, but people know that governance and regulation need to be prioritized if things are to move forward safely.
Obesity therapies were also dominating conversations, especially since Novo had their oral GLP-1 pill FDA approved at the end of last year, and Lilly’s orforglipron is inbound. According to Lilly’s market research, oral formulations may be seen as more appealing and less radical to those who are hesitant to try needles.
Loss of lean muscle mass was a primary concern when talking about the subject, with Regeneron announcing that they will be reporting additional muscle preservation data for semaglutide used in combination with trevogrumab and garetosmab (monoclonal antibodies developed by the company that block pathways limiting muscle growth).
With men holding a significant majority of executive positions in the biotech industry, it was refreshing to see a greater presence of women at JPM this year.
On Tuesday afternoon, a group of 700 biotech executives (from the Biotech CEO Sisterhood) stood outside in union square, showing off their pink outfits in an iconic display of empowerment. While conferences like JPM are still far from reaching equal gender representation, it was a powerful moment that spoke to the progress that is taking place behind the scenes.
On the topic of women in leadership, the team attended a ‘How Women Lead’ lunch, led by board director and executive vice president at Novita Pharma, Jennifer Lee, which touched on the importance of advocacy, visibility and role models.
It also gave us a chance to discuss our latest white paper on addressing the leadership gap in life sciences, and the ways organizations can take steps to start seeing noteworthy progress.
Our final highlight was attending (and sponsoring) Paul Sekhri’s infamous post-JPM reception after three full-on days of meetings, panel talks and discussions.
The event brought together founders, CEOs and investors in a relaxed setting – and was a fab chance for the team to introduce themselves to both new and old faces while enjoying some networking.
After all, JPM is as much about people and community as it is about capital.
Here’s to a more hopeful 2026 after the post-pandemic set back. If you’re looking for an executive role or planning on expanding your C-suite, feel free to get in touch with our experts at Mx.
