Feature article - Navigating biotech’s new reality: Funding, flexibility & faster decision making

Philip Payne, chief commercial officer, and Dr Goran Verspui, head of drug development services at Symeres, look at how biotechs are adapting to a more demanding environment than ever before 

Throughout 2025, biotech funding has only grown more cautious and selective. Venture investment slowed at the start of the year, reaching its lowest Q2 level in five years, signalling a broader shift toward capital discipline.

Although several standout deals still attracted large sums, investors are increasingly directing funding toward lower-risk, later-stage programs that already demonstrate clinical potential. Median round sizes for Phase II companies have risen, reflecting the focus on assets with credible data and well-defined development paths.

For early-stage biotechs, this shift has created a challenging path to secure capital. Investors want evidence of progress before committing funds and companies must now prove value earlier in development. Generating reliable data early and interpreting it effectively has become central to both funding and strategy. 

In this environment, emerging and small biotechs need to embrace innovation to stay competitive, secure continued investment and ensure promising therapies reach patients quickly and reliably. CRDMOs that possess the power to innovate, a good understanding of the regulatory requirements and a clear focus on actual customer needs add incremental value to those just starting out. Their wealth of experience helps shape the right decisions and select studies that truly add value to programmes, improving the chances of raising the required funds for the next stages of development.

New chemistry approaches

Innovation in chemistry is becoming a defining factor in how biotechs manage the twin pressures of funding and time. As investors demand faster proof of value, companies are adopting strategies with the aim of improving efficiency, sustainability and confidence in early data. These include leveraging modern science to drive efficiency and building on proven scientific strengths

Access to a versatile toolbox of the most modern synthetic methods is defining how compounds are effectively designed and optimised. Advanced synthetic techniques give quicker access to important development candidates that facilitate a new round of compound design. 

Accessing the correct new compounds in a short time affords large improvement leaps in the compound properties with each new round of structural optimisation. The deep scientific expertise coupled with high efficiency in synthesis and interpretation of data help biotech teams to draw data-driven conclusions at a high pace, achieving milestones faster and reducing risk. 

Established disciplines remain equally important in driving progress, especially if they are complemented with new innovation. For example, the renewed focus on classical resolution techniques, particularly the Dutch resolution approach invented by Symeres in the 1990s, shows how trusted methods can evolve through innovation. Traditionally, resolution methods yield up to 50%, as only one enantiomer is isolated while the other is discarded. 

In current methods the yields are increased towards 100% by introducing racemisation conditions such as mild basic environments, temperature, light, or (retro)synthetic equilibriums, either during crystallisation or in a post treatment. This allows quicker access to chiral molecules in early scale-ups, which could be essential to starting the IND-enabling toxicity study as early as possible in the time critical path. 

As scientific methods evolve, the volume of data produced during development is expanding rapidly. Modern techniques, including AI and other digital technologies can deliver deeper insight into reaction performance, compound behaviour and material properties. 

The use of such technologies can speed up the optimisation of chemical reactions (e.g. through Bayesian optimisation), identification of hits and trends in large datasets, efficiency in reporting and the stimulation of creative thinking to solve complex problems. 

Connected future

As innovation, digital systems and AI strengthen decision-making in drug discovery and development, the same drive for connectivity is shaping how the program of work itself is organised. Biotechs are moving toward greater integration between drug substance and drug product development, creating an integrated workflow that links synthesis, material science, toxicity testing, formulation and manufacturing as part of a single, coordinated process. 

This unified approach minimises the risk of delays due to unforeseen challenges and allows teams to progress from early design to clinical material more efficiently. When analytical, chemistry, material science and formulation experts work together in real time, programs advance with greater consistency and control.

The same principle of integration now extends across geographies. With operations and partners spanning Europe and the US, biotechs can navigate regional regulations more easily and plan clinical trials with greater flexibility. Transatlantic collaboration accelerates timelines but and helps mitigate geopolitical and supply chain risks, ensuring programmes remain resilient as global conditions evolve.

By combining modern science, digital tools, scientific integration and global reach, biotechs are creating development frameworks built for speed and stability, connecting every stage of the journey from synthesis to clinical delivery .

A faster path forward

In an environment defined by cautious investment and growing complexity, biotechs are now also rethinking what they need from external partners. Limited funding and tighter timelines put a spotlight on the disadvantages of a transactional approach to outsourcing. 

Instead, companies should consider working with CRDMOs that operate as a true strategic collaborator, combining deep technical expertise with the flexibility and foresight to help programs adapt and advance in real time.

Mid-sized CDMOs are often especially well-positioned in this new landscape. Their scale can give them the agility biotechs depend on, while their scientific depth and global reach can provide the continuity that large pharma values. Often described as existing in the ‘Goldilocks zone’, they can strike a balance between speed and sophistication, ensuring progress continues even as conditions shift.

Partnership models are also expanding beyond core chemistry and manufacturing. Regulatory consultancy and data-driven program support are becoming integral, helping biotechs prepare for Investigational New Drug (IND) submissions and early clinical stages with confidence. By combining regulatory insight with scientific and operational expertise, these partners can help smaller companies navigate complexity and sustain investor trust.

The next chapter

As funding remains selective and expectations rise, moving programs forward with clarity and confidence will rely on biotech companies working smarter, integrating science, innovation and holistic approaches, and forging trusted partnerships. With collaboration grounded in transparency and adaptability, biotechs can balance creativity with control while maintaining the pace needed to reach key milestones.

The future will likely favour those who treat partnership as an extension of their own team, blending scientific depth, technological capability and strategic foresight to overcome complexity together. By aligning innovation with collaboration, biotechs can turn constraints into momentum and bring promising therapies to patients faster, shaping a new era of biotech progress.