To many biopharmaceutial executives and investors, the start of 2026 felt like a new dawn.
A lengthy pullback finally abated towards the end of 2025, as a wave of dealmaking, financings and positive clinical trial readouts lifted drug companies and revitalized broader investor interest. Stock prices climbed as several advancing companies weren’t only seen as acquisition targets, but potentially secure long-term investments that could become profitable in the future. The Trump administration’s drug pricing and tariff threats have appeared manageable, too.
Yet that newfound optimism is also mixed with an underlying tension. Bloated valuations could make growth harder to achieve, and lead to the kind of rush in new stock offerings that recently backfired on the sector. The regulatory climate in the U.S. remains unpredictable, leaving some companies with the kind of surprise rejections and delays that make risky biotech investments even riskier.
At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference this January — a meeting that serves as the industry’s yearly barometer — attendees wrestled with whether to feel confident or skeptical about what’s to come. How sustainable is biotech’s rebound? Will the tumult at the Food and Drug Administration finally subside? And how will U.S. drugmakers handle the fierce and still-growing competition from China?
The answers will shape the industry’s fortunes this year, as BioPharma Dive details in the stories below. Read on for a look at what’s in store.
