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.