Life Science Connect Editors' Roundtable: Wrapping Up 2025 And Looking Ahead

What It Covers

Six Life Science Connect chief editors from publications covering biotech, pharma manufacturing, drug discovery, cell and gene therapy, outsourcing, and RNA therapeutics convene for a 2025 retrospective and 2026 outlook, examining FDA leadership turnover, funding climate shifts, AI adoption, GLP-1 market expansion, China's biotech rise, and RNA therapeutic milestones.

Key Questions Answered

• •FDA Leadership Instability: The departure of Peter Marks, Nicole Verdun, and numerous senior FDA officials has left CDER on its fifth director, creating execution risk for newly announced policies. Organizations tracking regulatory timelines should build contingency planning around prolonged leadership gaps, as institutional knowledge loss threatens the implementation of otherwise promising modernization initiatives across drug approval pathways.
• •RNA Therapeutic Maturation: Two competing RNA products now target the same indication — Arrowhead's Redemplo (siRNA) and Ionis's Tringolza (ASO) — signaling commercial maturity in the oligonucleotide space. Companies evaluating RNA modality selection should monitor head-to-head real-world data emerging in 2026, as competition between siRNA and ASO constructs will clarify which molecular approach performs best across specific therapeutic targets.
• •China's Biotech Dominance: Five of the top ten R&D licensing deals in 2025 involved China-based companies, and government-backed investment continues accelerating. Biotech executives evaluating partnership and licensing strategies should actively assess Chinese platform deals, as demonstrated by BMS-Orbital, AbbVie-Capstan, and Novartis-Avidity transactions, which reflect China's growing role in advanced therapy and oligonucleotide development pipelines.
• •GLP-1 Market Expansion: Medicare and Medicaid will begin covering GLP-1 therapies for weight loss in 2026 through a pilot program with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, whose market cap crossed one trillion dollars. The first oral GLP-1 for weight loss is also entering the market, with clinical trial data outperforming existing injectable options, potentially triggering another manufacturing capacity surge for CDMOs.
• •NAMS Regulatory Push: NIH announced it will no longer fund grant proposals relying exclusively on animal models, accelerating adoption of new approach methodologies including organoids and organ-on-chip systems. Drug developers should begin integrating NAMS into preclinical toxicology and pharmacokinetics workflows now, as FDA and NIH standardization efforts will increasingly require these tools and early adoption builds regulatory familiarity ahead of formal mandates.
• •Outsourcing Resilience Under Tariffs: European CDMOs responded to 2025 tariff uncertainty by building US manufacturing facilities rather than absorbing cost increases, demonstrating supply chain adaptability. Biotech sponsors evaluating outsourcing partners should prioritize CDMOs with geographic manufacturing flexibility and assess customer service quality as a differentiator, since the crowded CDMO market means service consistency — not just technical capability — drives long-term partnership retention.