6 Executives on How Resilience, Not Retreat, Defines the Healthcare Year Ahead

The BIO International Convention returned to Boston last week, drawing nearly 20,000 attendees for one of the largest biotech events of the year. Executives, investors, researchers and policymakers from across the healthcare landscape gathered to provide their thoughts on the state of the industry at a particularly pivotal moment, amid continued political disruptions, FDA uncertainty and persistent questions about biotech funding and commercialization.

Against this backdrop, Cure released its annual industry outlook, The Future of Healthcare Innovation 2025. The report revealed that 87 percent of surveyed healthcare executives remain optimistic about the sector’s future, even as they brace for federal budget cuts, regulatory delays and global supply chain pressures. AI, machine learning, and cell and gene therapies topped the list of tools driving scientific discovery, reshaping business models, attracting investment, and expanding access. Cure conducted the CEO survey in partnership with Deerfield Intelligence, a division of Deerfield Management Company, an affiliate of Cure..

Cure asked several industry leaders attending BIO to share their views on what’s driving the industry forward, and what hurdles still lie ahead. Here's what they said.

Brendan Frey, PhD, Chief Innovation Officer, Deep Genomics

Deep Genomics, based in Toronto and Cambridge, Mass., is developing a foundation model platform for RNA biology to accelerate drug discovery.

“The success rate for AI-developed drugs in the clinic this year will likely be similar to traditional methods,” he said. “But the companies building the real thing will take more time to show their impact.”

Frey also noted the disconnect between deep tech founders and the expectations of AI-hungry investors: “If a pitch is too light — if they just build some AI to make an LLM of DNA — it’s not deep enough. They might get funding, but the motivation for the investors may not be aligned with the hopes and expectations of those founders.”

“The only way to succeed is by sticking to your guns and focusing on building the best AI and doing things right…It’s going to be a nonlinear path to disrupting the industry.”

He added that while some clinical readouts from AI-first drug discovery companies may be underwhelming in the short term, that shouldn’t be used as a verdict on the technology itself.

James Hackworth, PhD, Chief Business Officer, Tris Pharma

Tris Pharma is a privately held company focused on central nervous system disorders, including a novel investigational non-opioid pain drug now in Phase 3.

“The market for pain medication was a black hole for decades. But that’s starting to change,” Hackworth said. “Now you’re seeing pre–Phase 2 deals, VCs coming back, and real conversations happening.”

He noted that pain’s resurgence as an investment area is being driven by demographic tailwinds: "What drives chronic pain? Age and obesity. And there’s no sign either of those trends are reversing."

“It became a self-fulfilling process—pain was seen as too hard, so no one innovated,” he said. “But now we’re seeing a trend shift.”

Alex Lugovskoy, PhD, CEO, Diagonal Therapeutics

Diagonal Therapeutics is developing clustering antibodies for disease-modifying treatments in hematology, nephrology and hepatology.

“We still haven’t overcome the effects of exuberant expansion in the post-COVID years,” Lugovskoy said. “Over 50 percent of public biotech companies are probably trading below cash, which makes the cost of capital very prohibitive.”

He said a wave of industry consolidation is likely. “We’re on the verge of a survival-of-the-fittest phase. The companies with the best science and sharpest execution are the ones that will get funded.”

Nick Edwards, PhD, CEO, Potato AI

Potato AI builds autonomous agents to help scientists plan and run experiments faster and with less friction across computational and wet-lab settings.

"Everyone’s getting crunched — academics, biotechs, and probably pharma too. But the need to improve efficiency and productivity isn’t going away," Edwards said.

He believes AI will gradually reduce the risk profile of biotech. "Longer term, these tools will make biotech and pharma more productive and less risky. That’s when capital will start flowing again."

“Wet lab biologists and computational scientists often don’t even speak the same language,” he added. “Tools that let them co-develop protocols or pipelines are essential, that’s where a lot of friction is being removed.”

Betty Woo, PhD, Vice President, Cell, Gene and Advanced Therapies, and Daniella Cramp, President of BioProduction, both of Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific is a global life sciences services and tools company supporting manufacturing, clinical trials, and scientific innovation across the healthcare sector.

“This will be the year of scalability,” Woo said. “We’re finally going to see automation make a measurable impact in real manufacturing settings—not just theory.”

Cramp added that while gene therapy remains a high-risk and capital-intensive area, larger manufacturers and CDMOs are playing a bigger role.

“Accessibility for these drugs is going to continue to be a challenge for a while,” Cramp said. “We’re seeing more companies rely on external manufacturing, especially in emerging markets.”