Discovery & Development Europe 2027
Basel, Switzerland
We took notes so you don't have to...
The druggable genome is expanding!
Paul Workman opened the event with something that's easy to lose sight of when you're deep in the science, the druggable genome is expanding, and more patients are reaching benefit because of it.
Biomarker-based approaches are working. RAD is now drugged. Induced proximity pharmacology is moving faster than most expected. There's real momentum in the field and he gave it the credit it deserves.
Drug resistance and clonal evolution is now the thing the whole field is still working on.
What does "Lab-in-the-loop" look like?
Dave Hallett's, (Recursion Pharmaceuticals) session got into the reality behind the phrase, the infrastructure required to run agentic, iterative design-make-test-learn cycles at scale.
Recursion is operating at the interface between the physical and virtual world, and he was honest about how much work sits between the concept and making it function for small molecule therapeutics.
The gap between the phrase and the practice is where the interesting work is.
1 in 3 Europeans. €430bn a year. Much of it preventable.
Rafal Kaminski, (Angelini Pharma) opened with the honest facts.
The science in epilepsy, mental health, and rare neurological disorders is moving, innovative therapies are there, cross-sector partnerships are forming. What's lagging is political and financial commitment.
He made the case plainly: investing in brain health saves lives and saves money.
Your fastest trial yet
The fastest lap in F1 history: 1 minute 18.792 seconds. The average drug development timeline: 12 years.
One of these is improvable. Come take a lap in our F1 VR simulator in between the sessions.
Congratulations to James McCune for winning the day 1 competitio with a time of 1 minute 27.343 seconds!
Huge thanks to Clarivate for sponsoring the F1 experience.


We have a winner!
Huge congratulations to our winner of the Young Scientist Awards, Ian Hope!
Research Associate from Newcastle University, Ian Hope, claimed the award for best poster presentation, taking home a trophy, £1000 travel contribution and access to LifeScienceXchange, from scientific programme partner ELRIG.

Red or white?
Day 1 ended at the BBQ and wine tasting at the Estrel Waterfront.
Delegates continued the conversations from the day over a generous buffet and selection of wines throughout the evening.
Key Event Highlights
An unmissable journey awaits you: from award winning speakers and insightful workshops, to an exclusive gala dinner. Discover the moments that will transform your Discovery & Development experience.
Are you developing a cutting-edge therapy, platform or technology? Our Start-Up Zone is designed to support emerging companies looking to increase their visibility, find potential partners or early adopters, and meet their investment goals – connecting them with our community of pharma, investors, and mid-to-large size biotechs.
Located in the Exhibition Hall, the Start-Up Zone allows therapeutic pioneers to showcase their approach, conduct invaluable 1:1 meetings and deliver a quick-fire pitch.
There are two options, based on the size of your organisation with prices starting from €1020.
For further information and to get started submit the application form below.
Criteria:
The Start-Up Zone is designed for therapeutic start-ups, academic spin-outs, and early-stage technology/service providers.
To be eligible for inclusion, you must meet the following criteria:
• 0 – 5 years operating
• 0 – 30 employees
• Pre-Series A funding
What you will receive:
- 1 full conference pass
- 10-minute pitch on the Start-Up Stage
- 1x1m space in Start-Up Zone for own partnering meetings; cocktail table provided, start-up to bring 1x pull-up banner
- Logo featured on website & event platform as a participating start-up
- Ability to arrange 1:1 meetings via the congress app
The Discovery & Development Young Scientist Poster Award recognises exceptional individual achievements in scientific research by PhD students, PostDocs, and early-career scientists.
The top three winners receiving the highest scores will be given a trophy, a £1,000 contribution towards travel costs, access to our LifeScienceXchange Pass, and the opportunity to present on the programme.
Three runner ups will be provided with the opportunity to present their work on the programme as well as access to the LifeScienceXchange Pass.
Included in the LifeScienceXchange Pass – 12 months access to expertly curated content, monthly thought leadership sessions & technology showcases.

2026 Thought Leadership Insights
Join our CEO, Cerlin Roberts, as she sits down with leading industry voices to explore the ideas, innovations, and themes shaping the future of our industry.
Last Year's Sponsors of Discovery & Development Europe 2026
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Become a driving force in accelerating the next generation of multi-omics-based treatments. NextGen Omics & Spatial Biology US offers a unique platform to enhance your brand visibility and connect with thousands of pharma, biotech, & academic experts. Our branded event opportunities, immersive experiences, and content services enable you to engage, educate, & collaborate with the community shaping the future of genomic medicine today.
Interested in Sponsoring NextGen Biomed?
Become a driving force in accelerating the next generation of biologics and immunotherapy medicines to patients. NextGen Biomed offers a unique platform to enhance your brand visibility and connect with thousands of pharma, biotech, and R&D experts. Our branded event opportunities, immersive experiences, and content services enable you to engage, educate, and collaborate with the community shaping the future of biomedicine today.
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The NextGen Biomed Young Scientist Awards include the best poster presentation award and are intended to honour an outstanding individual performance for a scientific work by a PhD student, PostDoc or early career scientist.
Please submit your poster presentation by no later than 13th January 2025 in the below category:
- Protein/Antibody Engineering
- Bioanalysis & Characterisation
- Next Generation Biotherapeutics
- Peptides Chemistry & Therapeutics
- Oligonucleotides Chemistry & Therapeutics
- Sustainable Chemistry & Manufacturing
- Student (PhD), PostDoc or early career scientist under 35 years of age. Proof must be provided via an active student ID card or a copy of status
- Applicants must be the first AND presenting author of the submitted paper and register for the meeting by 13th January 2025
- ONLY ONE YSA submission per person will be accepted. If authors submit multiple abstracts for consideration for the YSA, only one abstract will be taken into consideration for the YSA
Applicants must follow the procedure as follows:
- Register and submit an abstract by 13th January 2025 using the registration link to the left on this page
- Once registered you will be provided with the online abstract submission form
- Prepare the poster or platform and present it (The poster presenter should be at the poster during all breaks.)
- The 3 winners with the highest scores will be announced at the Networking Drinks on the second day of the event
- The winners’ 10-minute oral presentations will take place during the networking drinks on day 2
The platform or poster presentation will be evaluated by senior scientists (consisting of our speaking and steering group committee for the NextGen Biomed series) on the basis of originality of the approach and quality of the work (e.g. appropriate methodology, interpretation of results, conclusiveness). All participants will receive the scoring and comments after the annual meeting via email.
The 3 winners receiving the highest scores will be announced at the Networking Drinks on the Day 2 and will be given a trophy as well as £1,000 contribution towards travel costs. Oxford Global will also provide winners with PLUS Pass – 12 months access to our content platform providing access to on-demand presentations, exclusive reports and highlights.

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