Manufacturing Chemist‘s(MC) editor, Kevin Robinson, spoke to selected industry leaders, including Abzena’s CSO, Campbell Bunce, to highlight current trends and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. As the chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors transition from 2025 into 2026, they are being shaped by a convergence of technological acceleration, regulatory pressure and shifting market expectations.
“Despite rapid change, the growing complexity of biologics and the rise of AI-driven design are reinforcing the increasing need for deep scientific expertise and innovation leadership,” says Campbell Bunce (CB), Chief Scientific Officer at Abzena.
MC: Looking back, what were the most significant industry shifts or developments in 2025?
CB: Last year marked a decisive turning point for the biotech and biopharmaceutical landscape. After several difficult years with reduced investment, the sector experienced a pronounced increase in funding, particularly for emerging and complex modalities.
Capital began flowing back into biologics and bioconjugate platforms as Big Pharma sought innovation through licensing and acquisitions.
This renewed momentum not only helped to revive stalled pipelines but also accelerated the development of antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) and next-generation antibody and bioconjugate formats such as bi/multispecific antibodies and antibody-oligonucleotide conjugate (AOC) therapeutics.
A parallel shift also occurred in terms of how discovery and design work was conducted. Artificial intelligence (AI) evolved into a driving force, influencing target identification, antibody mining and early stage engineering strategies.
AI-enabled platforms demonstrated their ability to uncover novel biology, exemplified by approaches that analyse “healthy” patient-derived antibody repertoires to reveal protective signatures.
Together, these investments and technological shifts reshaped expectations for speed, precision and complexity in biologics R&D, setting a new benchmark for innovation moving forward.
MC: What key trends defined your sector in 2025?
CB: The sector was defined by a clear shift toward molecular complexity and computational intelligence. Developers continued to move beyond traditional antibodies, embracing bispecifics, next-generation antibody formats and intricate bioconjugates such as AOCs.
ADCs increasingly attracted sustained interest, cementing their status as a high-value modality for oncology pipelines.
At the same time, AI evolved into a central enabler rather than a peripheral tool. It gained broader adoption for tasks that were previously slow or experimentally difficult.
Companies explored partnerships with AI specialists to refine discovery workflows, streamline molecular design and improve hit-to-lead confidence.
These trends highlighted a sector moving toward smarter, more integrated development ecosystems that combine advanced biology with intelligent automation.
MC: Which changes in 2025 had the biggest impact on your business or customers?
CB: For many organisations, the most impactful change was the sudden acceleration of demand as investment flowed back into complex modalities.
Customers rapidly advanced programmes involving ADCs, AOCs, bispecific and engineered antibodies, with expected compression of timelines and requiring more specialised scientific collaboration.
The shift wasn’t simply an increase in volume; it was an escalation in technical difficulty, pushing teams to innovate in molecular design, process optimisation and analytical strategies.
Customers also navigated the implications of AI becoming more intertwined with early development. Although these tools enhanced target discovery and antibody mining, they also introduced new expectations for data interpretation, validation and design decision making.
This required teams to balance digital insights with rigorous experimental proof, reshaping how projects were planned and executed.
MC: What trends or challenges are you preparing for in 2026?
CB: Preparing for 2026 means getting ready for a market in which complexity is the norm. As demand for bispecifics, ADCs and novel antibody formats rises, we can expect structural intricacies that place significant demands on discovery, engineering and downstream development.
Ensuring workflows can efficiently handle this increased sophistication is a central challenge.
Another emerging focus is the next phase of AI integration. Organisations must determine how to incorporate AI-driven design tools without compromising scientific rigour or overstretching operational capacity. Evaluating which platforms provide meaningful, validated insights will be critical.
The broader environment also presents challenges, including tighter competition for skilled scientific talent, an increasingly crowded modality landscape and the need to scale capabilities responsibly as programmes move faster.
Addressing these factors now will be key to maintaining resilience and readiness as expectations continue to rise in 2026.
MC: Where do you see the greatest opportunities or risks emerging in 2026?
CB: Opportunities in 2026 will originate from sustained enthusiasm for differentiated biologics, particularly AOCs and bi/multispecific antibodies. The pharmaceutical industry’s appetite for innovative assets creates space for organisations with strong scientific depth to influence pipeline development.
AI presents another major opportunity, offering pathways to uncover new targets, automate design cycles and bring novel constructs forward with greater confidence. These advances could reshape what early-stage innovation looks like.
However, risks mirror these opportunities. Rapid growth in complex modalities may expose gaps in development infrastructure if organisations scale too quickly or without the right expertise.
An overreliance on unvalidated AI predictions could introduce scientific or regulatory setbacks, particularly in early phase programmes. Additionally, macroeconomic volatility means investment trends may shift suddenly.
MC: What innovations or shifts do you expect will shape the industry in the year ahead?
CB: The year ahead is poised to be shaped by the deeper integration of AI into biologics engineering and a sustained push toward innovative therapeutic architectures.
AI-driven design tools are expected to advance beyond target mining into areas such as automated antibody optimisation, bi/multispecific and multifunctional construct generation and manufacturability prediction.
These capabilities could streamline early decision making and open new avenues for creative molecular design.
Simultaneously, investment in next-generation biologics will reinforce the momentum behind ADCs and emerging antibody formats.
As programmes become more ambitious, developers will increasingly emphasise technologies that enhance precision, reduce risk and deliver better medicines to patients.
Collaborative innovation across computational and experimental disciplines will play a major role.
Next year, as the industry moves toward greater integration, automation and conceptual boldness, biologics development will enter a phase defined by both technical sophistication and rapid evolution.
