Hot topic: JPM 2026 – It’s been a long time coming
Every year the life science investment world looks forward to January’s ‘JPM week’, which revolves around the J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. But this time there is real anticipation.
Because, after a number of times in which the event has promised to kick-start the investment market, only for the year to falter, this time expectations are much more solid.
Public biotech markets have been on a roll since April, with the US-focused XBI index almost doubling since its low on April 9 last year of $66.66.
M&A activity surged in the last few months of 2025, with several mega-deals – including Pfizer’s $10 billion acquisition of obesity biotech Metsera, and Novartis’s $12 billion swoop on RNA therapeutics firm Avidity Biosciences.
December then saw a slew of listed biopharma companies announcing plans for follow-on stock offerings, with seven firms putting out plans to raise a total of $2.3 billion by offering shares to the public – indicating that once more there’s an appetite for biotech among retail investors.
Change has been a long time coming.
The years 2022 through 2025 were extremely trying for life science firms. And let’s not forget, times still are tough for many smaller or early-stage companies when it comes to raising funds. They need to be on top of their game when it comes to telling their stories well, so that they stand out from the crowd.
But the swift turn in sentiment during late 2025, which industry watchers expect to be reflected in both a positive mood at JPM and a healthy number of fresh deals announced there, augers well for the year ahead.
A word of warning though: like everything that’s higher risk, there are absolutely no guarantees. Black swans, geopolitical and otherwise, lurk in the reeds.
So, let’s hope the industry doesn’t end up sitting on the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away.
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