Today, my guest is Dr. Clare Wareing, Founder and CEO of Cumulus Oncology, who joins us from Edinburgh.

With over 25 years of expertise in oncology drug development, Clare has built a remarkable career translating scientific breakthroughs into life-changing therapies. Cumulus Oncology is curating a risk-adjusted portfolio of preclinical assets focused on high unmet needs in oncology. Their platform-agnostic, approach prioritizes patient subgroups and precision medicine to boost success rates and drive value creation.

In this conversation, we explore Clare's journey to and through biotech, Cumulus and the current state of oncology in biotech, the vibrant Scottish biotech ecosystem, and her vision for the future for 2026 and beyond.

01:17: Meet Clare Wareing

03:57: Inspiration for founding Cumulus Oncology.

05:38: Cumulus's unique drug development model.

09:53: Overview of Cumulus's asset portfolio.

13:05: Importance of the patient subgroup strategy.

17:41: Trends in oncology drug discovery.

21:09: Drivers of oncology deal-making activity.

24:22: Challenges in accessing venture capital.

30:06: Future milestones for Cumulus Oncology.

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To dive deeper into the topic:

• Curing cancer: Daiichi Sankyo's ambitious ADC approach
• Cracking Cancer’s Code: Transforming Research with Novel Cancer Models
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Today, we're thrilled to have Tim Opler, a leading voice in biotech investment banking. Tim's career spans academia, Credit Suisse, and co-founding Torreya Partners, which Stifel acquired in 2023. As Managing Director in Stifel's Global Healthcare Group, he's advised on over 150 deals totaling more than $100 billion, shaping major M&A, licensing, and financings in life sciences.

Tim is renowned for his insightful Biopharma Market Updates, and in this episode, we'll dive into his December 2025 edition, where he outlines five transformative trends set to drive biopharma for the next decade: M&A booms, giant markets like obesity and aging drugs, China's rising innovation, AI's reshape of healthcare, and incredible scientific advances.

01:22 - Meet Tim Opler

03:12 - Stifel and the Biopharma Market Updates

05:50 - Trend 1: M&A Booms

10:06 - Trend 2: Giant Markets

17:05 - Trend 3: China's Innovation

22:29 - Trend 4: AI Reshaping Healthcare

28:42 - Trend 5: Incredible Science

34:18 - Looking forward

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To dive deeper into the topic:

• 10 biotech companies in China you should know about
• When AI isn’t enough: How physics is shaping the next wave of drug discovery
• JPM 2026: what’s the outlook like this year?

Today I’m joined by not one, not two, but three guests with their takes on the biotech year ahead. In December we tasked Labiotech journalists Jules Adam, Roohi Peter, and Willow Shah-Neville with the task of identifying the five biotech players that they thought would be the ones to watch in 2026. Now you can read that article at Labiotech-dot-EU, and we’ve linked it in the show notes here in your podcast player, too, but on today’s episode I’m joined by Jules, Roohi, and Willow who explain a little more about the companies that caught their eye and what might be expected of those companies in the year ahead.

15 companies, three journalists, all in one special podcast as we uncover the companies to watch in 2026.

1:18 Meet Jules Adam

2:30 Abivax

4:04 AAVantgarde Bio

6:10 Isotope Technologies Munich (ITM)

8:16 MaaT Pharma

9:55 Novo Nordisk

13:15 Meet Willow Shah-Neville

14:29 Kardigan

18:23 Braveheart Bio

21:16 Beam Therapeutics

24:34 MindMed

27:39 Kailera Therapeutics

32:36 Meet Roohi Peter

33:30 Aspen Neuroscience

34:45 Reunion Neuroscience

36:14 MapLight Therapeutiucs

37:41 Hope Medicine

38:59 Regenxbio

Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here!

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To dive deeper into the topic:

• Keep an eye on these 15 biotech companies in 2026
• Biotech in 2025: A retrospective
• Eight of the biggest immunology and inflammation (I&I) deals in 2025