Agenda for Day 2 - Tuesday 10 November, 2026Tuesday, 10 November 2026

CNS remains one of the most challenging yet promising areas in drug development, attracting selective but significant investment and partnership activity. This session analyses recent deal flows, explores what's driving transactions in CNS, and examines the strategic priorities shaping partnerships between biotech innovators and larger players. With new modalities and targets emerging alongside persistent development challenges, the session discusses where value is being created and what matters most for stakeholders creating and evaluating CNS opportunities.

The cardiometabolic space is experiencing a surge in innovation beyond GLP-1 therapies, with emerging mechanisms and novel approaches addressing obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular risk, and metabolic health. This session explores what the latest data reveals about next-generation platforms, examines which targets and modalities are capturing scientific and commercial attention, and discusses where capital and partnerships are flowing. As competition intensifies and the market evolves, the session provides insights into differentiated opportunities and strategic considerations for key stakeholders in this high-growth area.

What if you could move from target to candidate in a single click?

Discover how Biocytogen’s RenSuper Workstation seamlessly integrates large-scale in vivo RenMice immunization, NGS, AI-powered high-throughput screening, and experimental validation to deliver high-quality, development-ready antibody sequences.

Learn how this platform unlocks access to a rich library of experimentally validated, fully human antibodies complete with data packages to support faster, more confident decision-making. Explore how it enables rapid candidate identification, flexible antibody design, and data-driven workflows, reducing early discovery risk and compressing timelines from years to months.

Germany’s biopharma ecosystem is home to a plethora of innovative players in academic and industrial innovation, biomanufacturing and in healthcare. This panel showcases 5 teams and their impact.

Therapeutic breakthroughs are worthless if they do not reach patients. It often takes far too long for innovative therapies to be put into practice. This is because approval, benefit assessment, and pricing are handled by different decision-makers, and decisions are made sequentially rather than in parallel. But what if decision-makers collaborate, pursue a common goal, and make decisions in a single process rather than one after another?

Using case studies, this panel examines how the networked collaboration of decision-makers can facilitate the rapid introduction of medicines in Europe. It showcases how parallel, coordinated processes ensure that patients in Europe gain access to the therapies they need as quickly as possible.

• Overview of JETRO’s services for overseas companies seeking business expansion, partnerships, and investment opportunities in Japan
• Introduction to Japan’s major biotech ecosystems, focusing on the Kanto and Kansai regions
  • Key strengths: universities, research institutes, pharmaceutical companies, startups, and biomanufacturing capabilities
  • Major initiatives and opportunities for international collaboration and business development
  • ENSEMBLExJ: A Government-Funded Virtual Japan Team for Global Biotechs Entering Japan

Have you ever wondered what the future holds for clinical operations? More importantly, how can we prepare for what lies ahead? This session gives the audience a glimpse into the future by exploring the challenges to come and recommending solutions to implement now, in preparation for tomorrow.

• Explore how AI and global expansion are reshaping clinical trials, unlocking innovation and transforming operational efficiency across international markets

• Discuss the role of community engagement in driving operational excellence, fostering trust and improving patient participation and retention

• Identify disruptive pathways to accelerate trial timelines and navigate the evolving landscape of decentralised trials, patient diversity and digitalization

• Identify evidence gaps that could affect European development and market access, and the questions Western buyers should resolve with clinical, regulatory and HTA specialists before committing.

• Assess whether China-origin clinical data meets European regulatory standards, identify critical evidence gaps, and determine what bridging studies or additional trials are required to support your regulatory and market-access strategy

• Understand how data ownership rights, ongoing reliance on China-based CROs or trial sites, and regulatory responsibilities impact your clinical development timeline, budget, and operational control post-transaction

• Determine when geopolitical factors—including export controls, supply chain constraints, and regulatory scrutiny of China-origin assets—require you to revise your development plan, restructure the deal, or walk away from the transaction entirely

• Examine what Western partners must resolve on evidence, data access and policy risk before committing to a China-origin asset

• Understand how to leverage China’s speed, patient access and regulatory flexibility to accelerate global development timelines

• Explore the surge in licensing agreements between global pharma and Chinese innovators and what makes China attractive for global partnerships

• Understand the regulatory evolution in the regional and their impact on development

• How will the GPL and the Biotech Act create additional incentives for market access?

• Implications of initiatives on regulatory data protection and market exclusivity

• Navigating changes to Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) and their impact on market exclusivity

• Regulatory strategies to maximise available incentives

• Comparing key global differences in approaches to incentives

• Examining the enhanced incentives under updated GPL regulations

• Understanding the baseline for data protection measures

• How to qualify for rewards attached to new indications with significant clinical benefits

• Analysing breakthrough definition for extending exclusivity periods

• Key updates tailored to paediatric medicine advancements

• Regulatory pathways and benefits available for unmet medical need targeted products, and how can they accelerate development and approval?

• How do you define unmet medical needs and that are the thresholds? Navigating the challenge of variable regulatory interpretations across diseases and therapeutic areas

• Case study insight into different conditions and how they qualify for Unmet Need

• Have the changes in the GPL really moved the needle when it comes to stimulating development for unmet medical needs?

Join us for this interactive workshop designed for delegates experienced in partnering who are looking to elevate their skills. This session will explore best practices for collaborating with colleagues, saving time, boosting response and acceptance rates, and leveraging partneringONE’s advanced features to enhance partnering etiquette. You’ll leave with a clear understanding of how partneringONE can help your company maximize ROI from partnering, both at this event and in the future. There will be ample opportunities to ask our partneringONE expert any questions you may have. Attendance is limited to 40 participants, so be sure to reserve your seat by adding the session to your personal agenda. If you’re unable to attend, feel free to visit the partnering help desk with any questions.

Immunology continues to unlock therapeutic possibilities across autoimmune, inflammatory, and immune-mediated conditions, making it a hotbed for innovation and capital deployment. This session explores emerging targets and novel modalities reshaping the landscape, examines what recent clinical data reveals about efficacy and differentiation, and discusses the deal dynamics and partnership strategies defining the space. As competition intensifies and new frontiers open, the session provides actionable insights for stakeholders creating and assessing opportunities in this dynamic and crowded market.

Longevity science is transitioning from research curiosity to serious commercial opportunity, with interventions aimed at slowing or reversing aging processes gaining scientific credibility and investor attention. This session explores the latest developments in aging biology and health span extension, examines what the emerging data reveals about therapeutic potential, and discusses the investment landscape taking shape around longevity. As funding flows into the space and partnership models evolve, the session provides strategic perspectives for evaluating opportunities in this nascent but rapidly growing field.

Biotech company creation is evolving. Rather than simply financing promising science, a growing number of investors and operator-led platforms are actively building companies from the ground up, combining capital, translational expertise, operational infrastructure, and experienced leadership from day one.

This session will examine the rise of these next-generation venture creation models and how they are reshaping the path from academic discovery to scalable biotech company. Bringing together leaders from venture creation platforms, investment firms, pharma, and innovation ecosystems, the discussion will explore whether biotech company building can become more systematic, capital efficient, and repeatable.

Key themes include:

• The emergence of operator-led biotech creation models

• Institutionalizing company formation around academic innovation

• The role of pharma and ecosystem partnerships

• Fractional leadership and shared operational infrastructure

• Europe’s opportunity to build globally competitive biotech ecosystems

The session will provide strategic insight into how the biotech industry is rethinking not just how companies are funded, but how they are built.

• Korean biotech companies present their technologies, spanning formulation science, preclinical safety testing, microbiome-based innovation, and next-generation mRNA and gene-therapy delivery
• Each company shows how their platform is helping to revolutionize health and skincare, from novel drug delivery systems and antibody-guided mRNA/CAR-T therapeutics to next-generation safety and efficacy testing and recombinant toxin engineering for aesthetics
• A window into Korea's growing life sciences ecosystem, offering direct opportunities for licensing, partnership, and early-stage investment

Join the European Investment Bank for a fireside chat exploring women’s health in the EU, with a preview into an upcoming study conducted under the InvestEU Advisory Hub in collaboration with the European Commission. The study aims to deep dive into Europe’s women’s health research, development, and investment landscape, identify critical unmet needs, and provide market intelligence to inform investment and policy considerations. It will also explore how instruments could be tailored to address the sector’s most pressing needs.

This discussion builds on the 2025 EIB Group Summit on Women Leaders in Life Sciences and Open Call for Applications on Advancing Innovation in Women’s Health.

For today’s biotech founders, building a company no longer starts with infrastructure it starts with access to the right ecosystem. Incubators backed by global pharma and industry leaders are playing an increasingly central role in shaping the next generation of biotech companies, providing not just space, but capital access, expertise, partnerships, and integrated support networks.
In this fireside chat, a leader from one of the industry’s leading incubator platforms will share what they look for in early-stage companies, how they support founders beyond the lab, and how startups can best leverage ecosystem partnerships to accelerate growth. From navigating early development decisions to building the right partner network, this conversation offers a candid look at how biotech companies are really built today and what founders need to succeed.

China’s biotech sector is undergoing a transformative evolution, positioning itself as a global leader in drug development and innovation. This session will delve into the latest breakthroughs within China’s vibrant R&D ecosystem, from cutting-edge therapeutics to advancements in AI-powered drug discovery. Panellists will discuss how regulatory reforms, strategic investments, and cross-border partnerships are driving China’s rapid progress and reshaping the global biotech landscape. Discover how China’s innovation engine is creating unprecedented opportunities for collaboration and redefining the future of healthcare worldwide.

As the lifecycles of biotech startups accelerate, younger management figures and junior venture capitalists are increasingly taking seats at the board table. However, navigating deep-rooted boardroom hierarchy and power dynamics can limit their strategic impact. This panel examines how junior board members can systematically build trust with senior stakeholders and ensure their voices are driving decisions. Industry veterans and emerging investment professionals will share concrete case studies of successful board contributions alongside critical, avoidable missteps. Attendees will leave with essential takeaways for punching above their weight from both a management and investor perspective.

The EIC VentureMatch Pitching on Health Biotech spotlights 12 of the best health biotech companies backed by the European Innovation Council, working in therapeutics and advanced therapies, in technologies supporting research, development and clinical decision-making, and in adjacent health biotech fields. They have come through EIC evaluation, one of the most competitive selection processes in Europe, and hold EU grant funding, equity investment, or both. They will pitch to investors and pharma business development teams, followed by structured networking. If you would like to get involved or attend, please contact venturematch@bas.eic.eismea.eu.

• Examine cost-benefit frameworks for bridging studies across Japan, Korea, Taiwan and ASEAN countries, balancing regulatory requirements, ethnic sensitivity considerations and commercial ROI to accelerate regional approvals

• Explore the unique regulatory pathways and requirements across key Asian markets, including PMDA (Japan), MFDS (Korea), TFDA (Taiwan) and emerging frameworks in Southeast Asian nations

• Discuss proven strategies for managing multi-country trials in the region, including site selection and engagement in mature and emerging markets, patient recruitment in heterogeneous populations and building sustainable partnerships with local CROs and research institutions

• Future-Proof emerging opportunities across Southeast Asia's growing clinical trial ecosystem, the rise of decentralized and hybrid trial models adapted to Asian healthcare systems and how to leverage real-world evidence and digital health innovations tailored to local market needs

• Address unique regulatory hurdles and innovative approval pathways for rare disease clinical trials, including adaptive designs and strategies for generating robust evidence with limited patient populations

• Examine the impact of political and leadership changes at the FDA and across global regulatory agencies, and how these shifts influence drug development priorities, review timelines, and enforcement approaches

• Align trial design with evolving regulatory requirements by incorporating real-world evidence, digital endpoints, and quality-by-design principles that strengthen submissions and accelerate approvals

Australia offers a compelling opportunity for clinical trials, with favorable regulatory framework, strong networks, excellent engagement with clinicians/researchers, and access to established and proven pathways of obtaining high-quality clinical data recognised by European and US regulators, and other global institutions. This speaking session will highlight how Australia’s clinical trials are a cornerstone for innovation and attractive environment for companies from around the world to develop their intellectual property.

• Learn best practices for strategic trial hub positioning globally, CRO selection, and building local partnerships to accelerate trial timelines while navigating the balance between market access and recruitment feasibility

• Address infrastructure and resource challenges in emerging markets by understanding the patient journey, establishing strong site relationships, and implementing effective strategies for working in diverse regions

• Discover actionable approaches for expanding trial footprints into underserved populations, including conducting proper due diligence and research to identify optimal locations for clinical trial success

As Europe positions itself as a leading destination for clinical research, the ability to deliver clinical trials at scale requires robust operational frameworks and strategic site management. This fireside chat explores what it takes to transform Europe into a thriving clinical trials hub, examining the critical operational elements that enable successful trial execution across diverse European markets.

• Assess the regulatory, infrastructure, and market factors positioning Europe as an attractive hub for clinical research

• Learn how to evaluate site capabilities and optimize performance using data-driven approaches tailored to Europe's diverse healthcare systems

• Understand best practices for streamlining study initiation processes, managing cross-border logistics, and accelerating timelines

• Discover how AI streamlines clinical trial operations- from intelligent protocol development and patient recruitment to digital twin technology that reduces patient requirements while maintaining regulatory compliance

• Learn strategies for shifting from traditional site-centric approaches to patient-focused trial designs that improve accessibility, diversity, and retention through decentralized and hybrid methodologies

• Explore real-world case studies and expert predictions on AI's future impact in precision medicine, regulatory evolution, and the transformation of clinical research operations