Early-Stage BD: What Actually Happens Before the Deal Announcement

Most biopharma BD content focuses on closed deals — the press releases, the headline terms, the conference panels celebrating success.

This report examines what happens before any of that: the operational reality of building and running BD at preclinical to Phase 1 companies, based on confidential interviews with 16 Chief Business Officers across the US and Europe.

It addresses:

• How the CBO role has expanded beyond dealmaking

• Where deals actually get stuck

• What non-BD colleagues consistently misunderstand about timelines, expectations, and what BD can and cannot control

• How China has become a competitive pressure point

• What the deal environment looks like now

• The outlook for the next 12-18 months and what leaders are preparing for

The report includes both a thematic synthesis and an anonymised Q&A addendum with the full interview transcripts.

Volume 2, covering Phase 2-3 through commercial organisations, will be published in January 2026.

Biotech celebrates success stories — but many are built as much on luck as on leadership. Here’s how to tell the difference when assessing senior talent in partnering and strategy.

This report explores the challenges faced by biopharma Chief Business Officers and the strategic solutions they employ to navigate them. Based on insights from 30 executive interviews, it highlights key obstacles in funding, partnerships, and operations across different development stages.