Where Will Your Asset Fail? PLG at Swiss Biotech Day 2026

By Riccardo Colombo

Swiss Biotech Day keeps getting bigger. This year more than 3,500 people from 58 countries arrived in the Congress Center Basel, contributing to the vibrant and busy atmosphere.

ProductLife Group joined alongside colleagues from Cilatus BioPharma Consulting and IntiQuan at Booth 115, covering the full range of what our teams offer across regulatory strategy, chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC), pharmacometrics, and market access.

The Swiss Biotech Report 2026 set the backdrop:

• Record sector revenues at CHF 7.5 billion
• Private biotech funding up 38% year-over-year
• Employment above 21,000 FTEs

All good numbers. But EY’s read at the launch was more cautious, and it matched what we heard directly on the floor. Investors are selective right now. They want teams with execution track records, not just strong pipelines. IPO activity is minimal and deal structures are shifting toward single-asset acquisitions. The companies that are moving forward are the ones that have figured out how to connect their science to a credible commercial and regulatory pathway. Those that have not are finding it harder to raise, partner, or progress.

That is the conversation our booth banner was built around – Where will your asset fail? This not a comfortable question, but it is the right one. Most of the teams that stopped to talk were already asking it in one form or another.

Across two days the same themes emerged, including:

• How do you prioritise across a portfolio when resources are tight?
• How do you build a clinical plan that works for both regulators and payers from the start, not as an afterthought?
• Where are the CMC and quality gaps that will slow you down before you see them coming?
• How do you use modelling and simulation to reduce trial burden and strengthen your regulatory package?
• And ultimately, how do you design studies that generate decisions, not just data?

These are not new questions. What is shifting is the urgency behind them and the level of integration required to answer them well.

One panel title from the program put it plainly: Your Pipeline Isn’t the Bottleneck. Your Organization Is. We agree.

Several meetings from Basel are already moving to next steps. If we spoke at the event, we look forward to continuing. If we did not, the door is open. Let’s connect.