STAT+: At BIO 2026, industry wrestled with Washington politics, and making AI work better
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- BIO 2026 in San Diego served as the gathering point where biotech and startup executives debated how to compete with China's growing power in developing new drugs, a topic the article calls central to the convention
- Washington politics and drug pricing policies ranked as twin concerns, with attendees onstage and off focused on gaining a better hold on federal policymaking and beating back pricing rules
- Artificial intelligence emerged as a competitive battleground, with industry players looking to early AI strategies for clues on how to use the technology to gain an edge
- U.S. biotech industry framed its hopes and fears around a road map of boosting domestic biotech, even as China's pipeline gained ground
- The conference exhibition floor featured member country and state pavilions, including a South Korean contract drug manufacturer whose giant-screen World Cup broadcasts drew attendees to pause and watch
Why it matters: At BIO 2026, U.S. biotech executives framed Chinese drug development gains, federal pricing fights, and AI adoption as interconnected competitive pressures, reflecting how the industry's strategic priorities have fused geopolitical, regulatory, and technological concerns into a single agenda.
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