At Biocom’s Global Partnering and Investor Conference, representatives from the business development departments at various pharmaceutical companies provided an update on their appetites for deals. The mood was fairly upbeat because, let’s face it, large pharma has become dependent on external development.

The U.S. FDA’s expectations that its new default position of basing marketing authorization of novel drugs on one adequate, well-controlled trial may be overstated. In explaining the policy in a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and CBER Director Vinay Prasad said they expect the initiative will create a “surge in drug development,” substantially reduce development costs and will speed drugs to market. While the initiative could reduce the time to the U.S. market, those expectations don’t take into consideration global norms and payer expectations.

The BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index finished 2025 up 24.07%, building slightly on its 23% gain recorded at the end of November. While the increase trailed the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index’s 32.4% rise for the year, it outperformed the broader Dow Jones Industrial Average, which advanced 12.97%.

At Biocom’s Global Partnering and Investor Conference, venture capitalists (VCs) on multiple panels offered their thoughts on the state of venture investing and offered advice for startups interested in securing funding. Sentiment for early stage investment was somewhat mixed, but trended negative as VCs acknowledged that it’s a tough environment in which to raise capital.

While the annual State of the Union address has morphed over the years from a summation of the state of the U.S. government and the president’s legislative agenda into political theater on both sides of the aisle, President Donald Trump did include some recommendations to Congress in his Feb. 24 speech. Among those recommendations was a request for Congress to codify his most-favored-nation pricing policy for prescription drugs.

U.S. FDA approvals began 2026 at a slower pace than usual, with eight approvals recorded in January.

The ramifications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Feb. 20 that shot down President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are rippling across the world. And Trump’s immediate response to that ruling – a proclamation imposing a temporary 10% import duty on most goods brought into the country beginning Feb. 24 – isn’t helping.