Today I’m joined by not one, not two, but three guests with their takes on the biotech year ahead. In December we tasked Labiotech journalists Jules Adam, Roohi Peter, and Willow Shah-Neville with the task of identifying the five biotech players that they thought would be the ones to watch in 2026. Now you can read that article at Labiotech-dot-EU, and we’ve linked it in the show notes here in your podcast player, too, but on today’s episode I’m joined by Jules, Roohi, and Willow who explain a little more about the companies that caught their eye and what might be expected of those companies in the year ahead.

15 companies, three journalists, all in one special podcast as we uncover the companies to watch in 2026.

1:18 Meet Jules Adam

2:30 Abivax

4:04 AAVantgarde Bio

6:10 Isotope Technologies Munich (ITM)

8:16 MaaT Pharma

9:55 Novo Nordisk

13:15 Meet Willow Shah-Neville

14:29 Kardigan

18:23 Braveheart Bio

21:16 Beam Therapeutics

24:34 MindMed

27:39 Kailera Therapeutics

32:36 Meet Roohi Peter

33:30 Aspen Neuroscience

34:45 Reunion Neuroscience

36:14 MapLight Therapeutiucs

37:41 Hope Medicine

38:59 Regenxbio

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To dive deeper into the topic:

• Keep an eye on these 15 biotech companies in 2026
• Biotech in 2025: A retrospective
• Eight of the biggest immunology and inflammation (I&I) deals in 2025

Welcome to our first episode for 2026.

Today, we're joined by Hakan Goker, Managing Director at M Ventures, the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA. With over two decades in biotech investing, Hakan has driven transformative deals in oncology, autoimmune diseases, and beyond, including standout 2025 investments like FoRx Therapeutics and portfolio milestones such as Artios' FDA Fast Track designation.

As we kick off 2026 at Beyond Biotech, Hakan shares insights on corporate VC advantages, emerging therapeutic priorities, and the industry's evolving landscape amid rising M&A and AI innovation.

1:10 Meet Hakan Goka

4:37 About M Ventures and pharma CVC

8:14 Sourcing innovative biotechs

12:52 How M Ventures works with Merck KGaA

16:54 M Ventures in 2025

24:46 Areas to watch in the new year

29:19 Looking forward to 2026

32:20 The next big thing in biotech?

33:08 Advice for biotechs pitching CVC

Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here!

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To dive deeper into the topic:

• The ABC of biotech startup funding
• Seven genome sequencing companies to look out for
• Labiotech's 2025 biotech funding tracker

Welcome to our final episode for 2025. We’re taking a little break for the holidays but we’ll be back again on Friday 9th of January to kick off our year with the Managing Director of Merck KGaA’s M Ventures, Hakan Goker.

Today, though, I’m joined by Ester in t’Groen of Johnson & Johnson.

Fresh off the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in Orlando, where J&J presented over 60 abstracts, Ester shares insights into the company's portfolio and the advances that the company has made over recent years in the hematology space.

She walks us through the real-world evidence for some pretty significant results from the thousands of patients in their clinical trials, and explain what's next for J&J in hematology in 2026—including some exciting readouts.

01:14 - Meet Ester in t'Groen

02:37 - Winning the Kilmer Medal

06:32 - J&J's key focus areas

07:32 - The hematology portfolio

19:07 - All about ASH 2025

23:49 - The MajesTEC-3 data

27:43 - The value of real-world datasets

32:06 - Looking forward into 2026

Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here!

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To dive deeper into the topic:

• Blood Cancer Awareness Month: What biotech holds in store
• 10 oncology deals in 2025 spotlight where industry leaders are betting big
• T cell engagers: A promising, fast-growing field for cancer and autoimmune disease treatments