Discover Pharma: Capturing voices shaping pharma’s next chapter at BIO 2025

As the global biopharma industry gathered at BIO International in Boston, MA, key players shared their perspectives on the challenges reshaping drug development and manufacturing. From regulatory shifts to rising complexity in novel modalities, the roundtable captured strategic responses from CDMOs and suppliers pushing the boundaries of innovation.

Liza Laws, co-founder of Discover Pharma spoke with leaders from Mabion, Hongene, Tjoapack, Abzena, Quotient Sciences and Renaissance Lakewood, revealing how they’re adapting to market headwinds, embracing regulatory evolution and preparing for what’s next.

Dr. Campbell Bunce, Chief Scientific Officer, Abzena.

What challenges are you currently facing in the pharmaceutical market, and how is your organization addressing them?

Next-generation biologics, such as bispecifics, fusion proteins and antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs), offer transformative potential yet demand unprecedented speed. Emerging biotechs chase rapid value-inflection, big pharma need pipeline renewal, regulators are streamlining reviews and patients want faster access to more effective treatments.

Abzena meets this urgency by de-risking early and deploying proven platforms. Our AbZelectPRO cell line development platform, for example, consistently expresses “difficult” formats like bispecifics (bsAbs) and fusion proteins and shrinks DNA-to-research-cell-bank timelines by 30%. Coupled with two decades of expertise in antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) development, we adapt validated conjugation workflows to AOCs, enabling the seamless transition of complex molecules from design to GMP manufacture without reinventing the wheel.

Can you provide insights into any regulatory changes or compliance issues that are impacting your business?

The FDA’s initiative to reduce or replace animal studies is reshaping pre-clinical strategies. Anticipating this, Abzena expanded its bioassay arsenal, comprising high-content cytotoxicity, bystander, cross-reactivity and potency assays that characterize on- and off-target risks for ADCs and AOCs entirely in vitro or ex vivo.

These data-rich workflows meet evolving safety expectations, compress IND timelines and minimize in vivo work. By sharing data and insight through agency working groups, we help shape pragmatic guidance and keep our customers’ programs inspection-ready as regulations evolve.

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