In the first half of 2026, pharmaceutical and artificial intelligence companies announced fourteen major deals totaling at least US$23.6 billion in potential value, according to a survey by analyst Oliver Sprague Kelly. The prevailing interpretation was that the pharmaceutical industry is betting heavily on radical innovation . I spent a good part of my twenty-five years in the industry in environments where such agreements are discussed and approved, and those who have lived

In recent days, after I wrote about PNIRS, I received the same question from founders, researchers, and investors, phrased in different ways: and the money, where is the money? I heard this from people I've known for years, people who built good science within universities, started companies, won grants, and then saw their projects stall not due to technical failures, but due to a lack of a next step . It is about this next step that I want to write, because it contains the m

How the global shift in health innovation redefines the role of industrial policies and exposes the backwardness of Brazil's strategy The pharmaceutical industry is experiencing a historic shift. The model that, for half a century, concentrated drug discovery in large, integrated corporations is fragmenting. Vertical integration, a symbol of strength in the 20th century, has given way to a decentralized network of small biotechs , academic laboratories, and deep tech startup