After J.P. Morgan, biotech’s bold promises meet real-world challenges. In 2026, success starts with a CDMO partner who accelerates timelines and anticipates every manufacturing hurdle. Learn how AGC Biologics offers tailored cell line solutions for complex molecules.
The banners are down, the last of the San Francisco fog has lifted, and the biotech world is collectively nursing its post-J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference hangover.
The promises of 2026 are grand: AI-driven discovery will revolutionize R&D. Multi-specifics will conquer “undruggable” targets. Pipelines will move faster than ever.
For the development teams tasked with turning that hype into reality, a more sobering question looms: How do we actually manufacture these complex new molecules and get them approved by the FDA?
The answer is not some flashy, silver-bullet technology. It’s not a splashy sizzle reel.
For manufacturing, the safest way to market is through a CDMO partner with a thorough understanding of the depth and versatility of their entire toolkit, and the expertise to know which instrument to use for which task.
While the industry buzzes about the promise of AI, multi-specifics, and FDA fast-tracking, some CDMOs are making more nuanced moves. By adding a high-speed platform like ATUM’s Leap-In™ alongside a proven, in-house system, a CDMO can make a bold statement: the future centers on providing tailored solutions for an increasingly diverse and complex pipeline of molecules.
In the uncertain regulatory and business environment of 2026, a one-size-fits-all CDMO has become a liability. Every molecule has its own manufacturing destiny, and a successful journey demands flexibility at every stage, starting with cell line development.
This leads to a critical strategic decision based on the molecule itself. For a drug developer with a standard monoclonal antibody, a cost-effective and regulator-friendly path is often one that leverages a proven, royalty-free platform. For such projects, a system like AGC Biologics’ CHEF1® platform—with its legacy of supporting five commercially approved products—offers a compelling narrative of low risk and high predictability for a CMC package.
For a developer with a complex molecule, like a bi or trispecific protein, the clock is ticking, and the manufacturing stakes are high. In this case, the ATUM Leap-In™ platform becomes the essential tool. Its ability to generate highly predictive stable pools allows critical process development and analytical work to begin months earlier, directly addressing the FDA’s demand for deep process understanding and de-risking the aggressive timeline.
“We are acutely aware of the pressures our customers face: the need to innovate with increasingly complex molecules, and the simultaneous demand to get to the clinic faster and more cost-effectively than ever before,” says Kasper Møller, Chief Technical Officer at AGC Biologics. “Our partnership with ATUM is a direct response to that need. We are not just adding a new technology; we are providing our customers with more options and flexibility.”
This sentiment is echoed by ATUM, whose technology was built to address these precise bottlenecks.
“We developed the miCHO® cell line and Leap-In Transposase® to improve expression robustness, maximize efficiency and increase speed to clinic,” notes Claes Gustafsson, Co-Founder of ATUM. “The platform was designed with complex biologics manufacturing in mind. The combination of our enabling technology with AGC Biologics’ deep manufacturing expertise will create an exceptional offering for the industry.”
Ultimately, the conversations at JPM are about what is possible, and now the conversation becomes about how it gets done. In 2026, the success of a biologic relies both on the brilliance of its initial discovery and the strategic foresight of its development. By choosing manufacturing partners based on their ability to anticipate and solve every manufacturing hurdle, the smartest drug developers can ensure the promises of January become the approved therapies of tomorrow.
Sponsored content is written and provided to BioSpace by the advertiser. It is published with the advertiser’s approval without contribution from BioSpace’s editorial and insights teams.