Post by Rowan Walrath

My rundown from #BIO2026 for C&EN. https://lnkd.in/g-2UYGve Across conversations at BIO this week, pharmaceutical leaders made it apparent that they do not care where, geographically, a drug candidate originates, so long as it has clinical and commercial potential. Scott DeWire, head of global business development at Boehringer Ingelheim, has a team looking for early-stage drug candidates in the cardiorenal, metabolic, immunology, and cancer disease areas. Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical giant, is looking for deals in the immunology, rare disease, and vaccine spaces, according to Brian Bronk, head of business development, who spoke on a panel about dealmaking on Tuesday. Johnson & Johnson is interested in investing in blood disorders; bladder, head and neck, colorectal, prostate, and lung cancers; neuropsychiatry and neurodegeneration, according to Lesley Stolz, the company’s head of west and North American external scientific innovation. Bayer is likewise eyeing opportunities across ophthalmology, women’s health, oncology, and cardiorenal diseases, said Juergen Eckhardt, who heads business development and licensing for Bayer’s pharmaceutical division as well as the investment arm Leaps by Bayer. Small molecules and antibody-drug conjugates are of particular interest. “We are geographically agnostic, and I personally have been spending a lot of time in China ever since COVID,” Eckhardt said. “Every time we go there, we are kind of blown away by some things that we see or encounter, so the level of innovation and just the scale and quality is astonishing. It’s impressive. So we are embracing that wholeheartedly. I think the whole industry is.”