News Release

By Gabe Musso, Chief Scientific Officer at BioSymetrics (a Lunai Bioworks company)

Coming out of this year’s JP Morgan Healthcare Conference and Biotech Showcase, I can’t help but feel that the industry is at an inflection point. I had the privilege of presenting Lunai Bioworks and our Augusta platform at the Biotech Showcase, and what stood out to me wasn’t just the scale of innovation; it was the intensity of the partnering discussions. There was a real urgency in the air, and for good reason.

For the first time, big pharma appears to be feeling the pressure of the looming $170B patent cliff in a tangible way. The traditional conservatism around partnerships is giving way to a more proactive stance. Companies are looking to get involved earlier, to engage partners like Lunai that can meaningfully de-risk programs before major clinical investment. Internal R&D just can’t move fast enough to backfill revenue losses that are already on the horizon, creating an opportunity for nimble TechBio companies.

Another clear takeaway: TechBio is no longer on the sidelines. AI-enabled platforms were front and center across presentations and meetings. It’s evident that pharma isn’t just experimenting with AI around the edges, they’re actively rethinking how biology-first platforms can accelerate precision medicine development. I should say, I also agree with the sentiment that TechBio companies are more credible and compelling when they’re backed by internal therapeutic assets. Having our own pipeline at Lunai not only helps us demonstrate the real-world impact of our Augusta platform, but also signals our confidence in its predictive power. It’s a strong message to partners: we’re not just offering a tool, we’re believers and we’re building and advancing therapies ourselves.

Equally inspiring was the caliber of the early-stage companies in attendance. This new generation of biotechs is both scientifically rigorous and commercially grounded. They’re designing platforms with translational impact in mind from day one, a real evolution in how innovation is born and scaled.

Finally, it’s worth noting how much value came from the informal moments. Some of our most promising opportunities came not from scheduled meetings, but from serendipitous conversations on the street, at coffee shops, or in hotel lobbies. The density of talent and the openness of this year’s environment reminded me that great partnerships often start with a genuine connection.

Looking ahead, I believe we’ll see JPM 2026 as a turning point, a moment when urgency meets opportunity, and when platform companies like Lunai become central to the next wave of therapeutic breakthroughs.