In his editorial comment for the Fall 2026 issue of DDW, Editor Reece Armstrong discusses innovation, investment, and how these come together in the Drug Discovery Innovators & Investors (DDII) event series. 

In my time with DDW, I’ve learned first-hand about the challenges drug discovery and development companies face when trying to take therapeutic candidates through to market. Not only is the science tough – biology is relentless – but the plethora of other obstacles that companies and leaders must navigate is daunting.

For CEOs leading companies that have spun-out of academia, one of the biggest challenges is developing the business acumen necessary for navigating such an industry as life sciences. Leaders need to know how to develop the relationships that can help guide aspects such as funding, collaboration, regulatory decision making and much more.

On the regulatory front, one thing I’ve often heard is the necessity to start conversations with regulators early, so you have a clear guide on what is required to adhere to a region’s strict policies for drug development. Not doing so can be consequential, especially for a small-scale company, and can result in costly and timely set-backs for a candidate in clinical trials.

Funding is another challenge companies face. Whilst funding for the earlier stages of drug discovery and development is sometimes easier to come by, the real challenge comes for those wanting to progress candidates to larger trials – something which requires more resources and money. The “valley of death” – that challenging period of transitioning a therapy from academic research into clinical trials – is often noted as one of the hardest obstacles for companies to overcome. It also raises questions of where is money available for drug discovery companies and how can they access it?

With this in mind, DDW has launched Drug Discovery Innovators & Investors (DDII), a new global event series that will focus on technology, innovation, and investment in early-stage drug discovery. This three-part series takes place across 2026/2027 as a digital event and two in-person events in London and Basel.

The goal? To connect senior executives, R&D leaders, lab managers and decision-makers from pharma and biotech to both explore the challenges mentioned above and hopefully enable them to meet the right people for both partnerships and investment. The event will also be ideal for those from academia who are looking for those initial starting collaborations.

You can learn more about the first of our two events in this issue. What I’m personally excited about is how this event series takes all of the knowledge DDW has gained over its years – from hosting digital events, and smaller in-person events – and harnesses those learnings into a series which, we hope, will be of great use to those working to bring therapies through to market.

And if I may say so, we’ve curated a great list of speakers who we can’t wait to see share their knowledge. For our London event, we have Chris Molly, CEO, of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) delivering the keynote, speakers from GSK, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, Cancer Research Horizons and more. See page 39 for details.

We hope to see you there.

From DDW Volume 27 – Issue 4, Fall 2026 – Read the digital issue here