Biotechnology
Asia Leaders
Ugur Sahin Has Given BioNTech a EUR16.8 Billion Runway. Six Cancer Readouts Must Now Set Its Direction
BioNTech retains EUR16.8 billion in cash and securities as it approaches six late-stage readouts. Ugur Sahin must convert scientific breadth into a focused cancer business.
Asia Leaders
Reshma Kewalramani Has Opened Vertex's Fourth Franchise. Kidney Medicine Must Now Match the Cystic Fibrosis Standard
Vertex is building beyond cystic fibrosis, with kidney medicine its newest large opportunity. Reshma Kewalramani must turn povetacicept into a durable franchise.
Asia Leaders
Daphne Koller’s $800 Million AI Bet Is Reaching Its First Human Trial Test
Daphne Koller has financed insitro with roughly $800 million in capital and collaboration revenue. Its first AI-discovered MASH programme is nearing the point where patients, not models, set the valuation.
Asia Leaders
Uğur Şahin Is Preparing to Leave BioNTech. The Oncology Pipeline Must Outlast Its Founder
BioNTech’s Covid success funded an ambitious oncology pipeline. With Uğur Şahin preparing to leave, clinical execution and succession have become inseparable.
Asia Leaders
Uğur Şahin’s US$11.1 Billion Pumitamig Alliance Now Faces the Phase III Arithmetic
Pumitamig has moved from BioNTech’s US$800 million Biotheus acquisition to an alliance worth up to US$11.1 billion. Uğur Şahin must show that encouraging lung-cancer signals survive global Phase III trials and a crowded competitive field.
Asia Leaders
Reshma Kewalramani Is Betting Vertex’s Balance Sheet on a US$10 Billion Endocrine Expansion
Vertex’s agreement to buy Crinetics for about US$10 billion is Reshma Kewalramani’s largest strategic wager. The deal could accelerate non-cystic-fibrosis revenue, but its financing, integration and peak-sales assumptions now demand unusually close scrutiny.
Asia Leaders
Noubar Afeyan Is Exporting Flagship’s Venture Factory to Sovereign Health Systems
Flagship Pioneering is extending its venture-creation model through Saudi, Singaporean and British institutions. Noubar Afeyan must convert privileged data and regulatory access into investable companies without compromising privacy, ownership or speed.
Asia Leaders
Shimon Sakaguchi’s Nobel Prize Has Become a Clinical Manufacturing Test
Shimon Sakaguchi’s discoveries gave immunology a new control system. RegCell’s planned US and Japanese trials will test whether that science can become a scalable autoimmune therapy rather than another elegant but expensive cell-therapy proposition.
Asia Leaders
Biocon Was Built for the Medicines Rich Markets Could Not Ignore
A FigureAsia examination of how Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is positioning Biocon for the next phase of biotechnology.
Asia Leaders
Noubar Afeyan Oversaw Moderna’s $2.2 Billion Cost Reset. The Cash Runway Is the Board’s Next Test
Noubar Afeyan’s most consequential job in 2026 is chairing Moderna through a costly transition. The board has backed deep savings and a tighter pipeline; its next obligation is to show that lower spending can produce durable medicines before cash declines too far.
Asia Leaders
Demis Hassabis Raised $2.1 Billion to Industrialise AI Drug Design. The Clinic Has Yet to Validate the Engine
Demis Hassabis has given Isomorphic Labs the capital and computing ambition of a technology platform. The harder test is whether its drug candidates can survive the slower economics of human biology.
Asia Leaders
Feng Zhang Made Genome Editing Programmable. His New Tools Must Make It Deliverable
Feng Zhang’s laboratory has expanded the genome-editing toolbox again. The commercial test is whether smaller, safer systems can escape specialist centres and reach patients across Asia at viable cost.
Asia Leaders
Feng Zhang Found Smaller Gene-Editing Machinery. Delivery Will Decide Whether It Becomes a Therapeutic Platform
Feng Zhang’s laboratory continues to mine natural biology for programmable systems. Compact editors can fit into delivery vehicles that larger tools cannot, but therapeutic value will require precision, manufacturing and evidence beyond the discovery paper.
Asia Leaders
Aaron Ciechanover’s Protein-Disposal Discovery Has Its First PROTAC Drug. The Platform Must Now Show Breadth
The first PROTAC medicine won US approval in May 2026, extending the commercial legacy of Aaron Ciechanover's ubiquitin research. The field must now demonstrate that targeted degradation can produce multiple drugs, reliable manufacturing and accessible patient value.
Asia Leaders
Reshma Kewalramani Is Taking Vertex Beyond Cystic Fibrosis. The Diversification Must Now Become Durable
Vertex is moving from one dominant franchise towards pain, blood disorders and kidney disease. Reshma Kewalramani’s challenge is to preserve focus while building new commercial systems.
Asia Leaders
Shinya Yamanaka Built Japan’s iPS Infrastructure. Personalised Cell Therapy Must Now Clear the Cost Barrier
Shinya Yamanaka has spent two decades turning cellular reprogramming into shared infrastructure. His next test is whether patient-specific iPS cells can be made reliably and cheaply enough for Asian health systems.
Asia Leaders
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Has Recombined Biocon. The Biosimilars Bet Must Now Generate Cash
Biocon’s structure is finally catching up with the global biosimilars business Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw assembled. Stronger margins and falling leverage are encouraging, but dilution, price competition and manufacturing execution remain material tests.
Asia Leaders
The Biologic Drug Boom Needs John Rim’s Factory Floor
A FigureAsia examination of how John Rim is positioning Samsung Biologics for the next phase of biotechnology.
Asia Leaders
Daphne Koller Is Turning Insitro’s AI Platform Into Drug Candidates. Biology Still Sets the Clock
Daphne Koller has spent years building a machine-learning company around human biology. In 2026, insitro’s partnerships and preclinical programmes are beginning to test whether its data advantage can produce medicines rather than promising hypotheses.