BIO-Europe C-Suite Survey: Biopharma dealmaking set to accelerate, but investor caution still caps ambition

• 75% of biopharma leaders expect partnering and M&A appetite to increase over the next 12 months, none expect a decline
• 69% expect access to capital to improve, yet 79% identify investor risk aversion as the biggest constraint on biotech investment
• 52% say US policy uncertainty has made Europe more attractive to build and partner in, though the US and China still lead as expected sources of partnerships

LONDON, Oct. 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIO-Europe, the must-attend global biopharma strategy forum, today publishes its inaugural Biopharma C-Suite Agenda Survey 2026, providing a timely, data-led view of how senior industry leaders are navigating a period of renewed dealmaking appetite, persistent capital pressure and shifting global competition. The survey of 81 senior biopharma executives, including 50 CEOs, captures an industry balancing greater confidence with continued constraint.

Claire Macht, Senior Portfolio Director at Informa Connect, said: “What emerges is not a simple story of recovery or retrenchment. There is clearly renewed appetite to partner and do deals, but capital availability and investor risk tolerance are still dictating what companies can actually execute. At the same time, leaders are reassessing where innovation will come from and how Europe competes in a global landscape increasingly shaped by US policy uncertainty and China’s accelerating pace of innovation. As a neutral convening platform, BIO-Europe's role is to bring those perspectives together to reflect the strategic issues the industry is actually trying to solve.”

Key findings

Dealmaking confidence is strengthening, but access to capital remains the defining challenge

• 75% expect partnering and M&A appetite to increase over the next 12 months; none expect a decline.
• 51% say raising growth capital is the most likely near-term activity, ahead of strategic partnering or licensing at 27%.
• 69% expect their company’s access to capital to improve, yet 79% identify investor risk aversion as the factor most constraining biotech investment today.

The tension is also reflected in comments from participating executives. When asked what concerns him most, Nisit Khandelwal, CEO of Cycuria Therapeutics, said: “The gap in early-stage innovation funding. Deal-making and investment volume are consolidated and skewed toward near-market-ready assets – but we all have to wake up to this: the investment we make in early pipeline today is the mid-stage pharma pipeline we’ll be scrambling for tomorrow.”

US uncertainty is improving Europe’s appeal, but not resolving its competitiveness problem

• 52% say US policy and regulatory uncertainty has made Europe more attractive as a place to build and partner.
• Europe still scores only 2.8/5 as a partnering and dealmaking hub.
• The US and China remain the leading expected sources of future partnerships, ahead of Europe.

Established investment priorities sit alongside emerging whitespace

• Oncology and ADCs lead expected partnering and investment interest for 2026–27, followed by immunology and inflammation, cardiometabolic disease beyond GLP-1 and neuroscience.
• Healthy ageing, mental health and women’s health are seen as the leading underinvested commercial opportunities.
• Respondents say the clinical data package is what pharma partners and investors scrutinize most closely, ahead of management strength, execution track record, regulatory and CMC readiness, or IP position. 

AI’s gains so far are operational, with the R&D payoff still ahead

• AI’s greatest impact to date is reported in back-office and operational functions, followed by target identification and drug discovery.
• The larger gains remain anticipated rather than realized: 57% expect AI to improve R&D productivity and 33% expect faster clinical development over the next 12–24 months.
• 22% say AI’s impact is currently overstated.

Download BIO-Europe’s Biopharma C-Suite Agenda Survey 2026 in full. Insights will also frame discussions at BIO-Europe 2026 taking place in Cologne, from 9–11 November, where the program will expand beyond business development for the first time to cover regulatory, clinical, manufacturing and investment strategy across seven integrated tracks.

For more information, please contact:

BIO-Europe
Ryan Hui, Paul Gilbertson
+44 (0) 20 8052 0450
lifesciencepress@informa.com

Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Isabelle Abdou, Vareen Outhonesack, Nellie Stephens
+44 (0) 20 3922 0900
BIOEurope@optimumcomms.com

About BIO-Europe
BIO‑Europe is the epicenter of biotech – in Europe, for the world. Defined by the seniority and quality of its audience, BIO‑Europe is where CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CMOs and CSOs meet peers and partners to shape strategy, build trusted relationships and turn conversations into outcomes.

2026 marks a bold evolution: beyond partnering, BIO-Europe expands its audience and program to be the continent's largest and most important biopharma strategy forum – setting the agenda for the industry worldwide.

Each year, 6,000+ of the industry’s most senior leaders, biotech and pharma executives, investors and strategic partners from Europe, North America and Asia, come together in a highly curated, deal‑driven environment.

The program now extends well beyond business development, spanning regulatory, clinical and manufacturing strategy across seven integrated tracks, anchored by high‑impact plenary sessions on the forces reshaping the industry.