Here we are again. January means the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference and all eyes in the pharma and biotech space turn to San Francisco. Our Biomedtracker team is providing daily reports to bring you the highlights of each day’s activities. There’s loads to digest in the full Day One report, so here are a few highlights to whet your appetite.
Day One didn’t deliver a huge haul of large deal announcements, and the message was unusually crisp: concentrate on categories you can lead, fund growth with operating discipline, and use BD&L to fill capability gaps. Here are a few takeaways from the day’s presentations.
Mega caps set the pace
Let’s start with the biggest players. Johnson & Johnson’s Chairman & CEO Joaquin Duato delivered an optimistic outlook, stating that 2026 will be stronger than 2025 as the company is now able to “focus on fundamentals” following the resolution of key policy agreements with the U.S. administration. The company is targeting 5–7% annual growth from 2023 to the end of the decade, and Duato highlighted a dozen launches across innovative medicines and medtech in that timeframe.
Also from the Big Pharma corner, Novartis’ presentation opened with highlights about the company’s strong sales growth and core operating income in recent years (7–15%). The company’s strategy remains unchanged with a focus on four core therapy areas; cardiovascular-renal-metabolic [CRM], immunology, neuroscience and oncology.
Large cap momentum
At the next level, our Day One report features summaries from more than a dozen players, including Alnylam, Biogen, BridgeBio, BMS, Gilead, Pfizer and Sanofi.
Alnylam unveiled its “Alnylam 2030” strategy, built on three pillars: scaling with discipline and agility, achieving global TTR leadership, and growing through sustainable innovation. The presentation highlighted Alnylam’s leadership in the ATTR-CM market, which represents a significant unmet need with over 300,000 patients globally and 80% still undiagnosed.
Biogen President and CEO Christopher Viehbacher emphasized the company’s ongoing multi-year transformation. He highlighted Biogen’s evolution from a declining multiple sclerosis (MS) driven business to a diversified neuroscience organization, now focused on rare disease therapies and a revitalized pipeline.
Daniel O’Day, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gilead Sciences used his session to reaffirm Gilead’s enduring leadership in HIV treatment and prevention and unveiling what he described as the most robust clinical and launch pipeline in the company’s history. He also focused on Gilead’s long-term vision to sustain HIV leadership well into the 2040s, anchored by a diversified portfolio and extended market exclusivity for cornerstone therapies.
Next wave builders
The mid-cap and small-cap companies featured during Day One include CRISPR Therapeutics, Sarepta Therapeutics, and Xenon Pharmaceuticals.
The gene therapy space has been in a tough spot for the past few years, but CRISPR Therapeutics has charted an ambitious course for 2026, underpinned by the commercial momentum of its first approved therapy, CASGEVY, and a broad clinical pipeline.
Sarepta Therapeutics presented a mission driven outlook for the year ahead. CEO Doug Ingram opened by underscoring the company’s focus on precision genetic medicine for rare diseases. The company enters 2026 from a position of both financial strength and operational momentum. It now holds leadership in precision genetic medicine with marketed products delivering over $1.86B in 2025 revenue.
For deeper company write ups, asset timelines, and BD&L implications, grab the full Day 1 report here – and stay tuned for Day Two!
