BIO-Europe took place last week in Stockholm. It’s one of the last big biopharma events of the year and a great time to take stock of where the industry stands as the new year approaches. I was at the convention, taking part in a fireside chat to discuss global innovation trends. Also featuring on the agenda was industry expert and friend-of-Evaluate, Melanie Senior who hosted a slew of panel discussions on financing and modalities.
These events always spark fascinating conversations not only in the panels, exhibition floor, and receptions, but also everywhere else in between. Whether you were there or if you missed the event, I’d be very pleased if you joined Melanie and me for an informal webinar during which we’ll revisit some of the key themes, and discuss what they signal about the state of pharma at this late stage of the year.
In the webinar, Melanie and I will be digging into three main areas:
Dealmaking
We’ll investigate the latest pharma dealmaking data, supported by analysis from Evaluate Pharma that includes highlights of the third quarter’s M&A, IPO and venture financing activity. We’ll also talk about the types of deals being done. In the fireside chat I took part in, we looked at what’s driving deals, and where interest is focused across development stages, technologies and regions. We’ll also investigate the power balance – of lack of it – between biotech, pharma and investors.
Innovation
There remains much focus on innovation across biopharma and it was a topic that featured in many of the panel sessions in Stockholm. Melanie moderated a discussion on one of the hottest areas of innovation – ADCs, and we’ll look at that as well as the fluctuating fortunes of other modalities and therapy areas. And we’ll consider strategy. Which companies are finding most success at the moment? The ones that go their own way, or those leaping onto the bandwagons? There’s also the question of whether best-in-class always trumps first-in-class. Speaking of trump…
…Geopolitics
News of the US election result broke while BIO-Europe was taking place so naturally it came up in conversations once or twice. Time will tell what a second Trump presidency will mean for biopharma, but the future of the IRA and the role of the FTC will give us plenty to cover. However, there’s much more to the complex global picture than the US and we’ll also consider the backsliding of Europe in the pharma space and the impressive level of innovation coming from China.
Most importantly, we’ll also be taking questions from the audience so if you’re able to join us, bring us your questions and we’ll aim to get through as many of them as possible. There is a lot to talk about as we head rapidly towards year end, and I am looking forward to chatting with Melanie as we think about what 2024 has taught us and what might be in store for 2025.
You can register for the webinar here. And if you’d like to get up to speed on some of the dealmaking data ahead of the session, Evaluate’s Q3 round up report is available here.
