Political uncertainties, tariffs, funding crunch? LSX World Congress upbeat despite the times

The weather was hot in London for this year’s LSX World Congress – but what was the atmosphere like at Europe’s leading partnering, strategy, and investment event?

Biotech executives and investors alike were concerned about a chilly wind blowing in from the west – of all places – but did their best not to let that dampen their enthusiasm.

Jeremy Skillington, CEO of LSE-listed Poolbeg Pharma, which has programmes targeting areas of high unmet medical need, including in cancer immunotherapy-induced cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and metabolic conditions, described the feeling at the event, which took place at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

“Given the challenges that are surrounding the industry regarding political uncertainties, tariffs, the funding crunch, and competition coming from China, I found the mood was quite upbeat,” he said. “This is a resilient industry that will deal with crises as they arise. There’s no question these are causing significant headwinds, but this industry thrives on collaboration and there was a sense of ‘we’re all in this together’.”

Melissa Simon, partner at family office Wieland Capital, based in Munich, said: “The atmosphere was positive and optimistic, even though funding – particularly for early-stage ventures – remains challenging.”

The funding crunch, and investment 

Dominant topics of conversation were “investor sentiment and the potential impact of the new US administration – both on academia and on the pharma and medtech sectors in general,” according to Simon. While Skillington said the “funding crunch” – not just affecting start-ups, but also for more established companies looking to raise later rounds – was on everyone’s lips. 

“One investor commented that they are focused on supporting their current investments, rather than making new investments – they had 150 new investment requests in their inbox!” he exclaimed. “Hopefully the funding tap will start flowing again soon and the industry will continue to make great strides.”

However, Anta Gkelou, partner at Sofinnova Partners, a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, based in Paris, London, and Milan, was positive. She said: “Despite market headwinds, there was real momentum and optimism about advancing innovation. There’s a clear push for more capital-efficient models and differentiated science.”

Mark Docherty, COO and CFO of London-based Leucid Bio, which is developing next-generation CAR-T therapies, said: “It was clear that political uncertainty in the sector was on everyone’s mind.” 

The way forward for biotech and medtech

The overall takeaway for biotechs was the need to be “adaptable and proactive”.

But amid the uncertainty, Docherty emphasised that, “companies with a solid leadership team and a grounded strategy will continue to attract capital and strategic partnerships.”

Eliane Schutte, CEO of Xeltis, a Dutch clinical stage medtech company developing artificial vessels that are gradually replaced by patients' own tissue, said “trends in the geopolitical situation, investment climate, commercialisation, and regulatory strategies in the US and emerging markets” were popular topics during networking breaks.

Are early stage companies at last starting to get more of a look-in when it comes to funding?

Simon, of Wieland Capital, said: “Larger VC funds are still predominantly focused on later-stage assets, leaving much of the early-stage support to smaller funds and family offices. As a family office not bound to follow mainstream trends, I was pleased to discover several promising companies that are off the beaten path.”

But she added: “I do observe a growing interest in early-stage companies that can present convincing data. Cycuria Therapeutics, which is developing novel protein-based targeted therapies for haematological cancers, is a great example. That gives me confidence that major VCs may soon become more receptive to earlier-stage companies.”

Paul Beresford, SVP for new product planning and business transformation at small molecule cancer therapeutics biopharmaceutical iOnctura, said: “Investors have generally become more selective about where to invest. While public markets are challenging currently, there are good biotech assets out there and big pharma has capital to invest in business development and M&A. Biotechs should have clear strategies, which are de-risked, milestone-based, and prioritised in order to manage their cash runways.”

He added: “Big pharma companies facing patent cliffs are interested in later-stage biotech assets to support revenue lines.”

Trends to watch

In terms of what science is pulling in the attention, Sofinnova’s Gkelou offered that, “immunology, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease continue to gain traction.”

Within oncology, Gkelou said she was “seeing a shift towards new modalities and more precise, targeted approaches,” adding that, “platforms that enable better patient selection or have multi-indication potential are particularly compelling.”

Docherty, of Leucid Bio, said “interest in oncology remains constant”, continuing: “Emerging research continues to reinforce the need for developing novel therapies, as well as finding new ways to enhance existing modalities.”

Poolbeg’s Skillington said GLP-1s continued to be “front and centre”, while ADCs had been “grabbing a lot of attention – and funding – of late”.

There was also talk of AI’s potential to boost productivity in drug discovery and development, but Skillington said there was a growing sense that evidence needed to be presented “for the promises to be believed.” Poolbeg is using AI approaches in developing its pipeline.

About the author

Stephen Adams has been an associate director at Optimum Strategic Communications, a specialist life sciences communications agency, for two years. Prior to that he was a health journalist, spending six years at The Daily Telegraph and then a decade at The Mail on Sunday.