Dear dupa,

Everyone in biotech has their own measures for marking out the potential of a coming year. For me, one of the key markers has been setting up our annual round of events at JP Morgan.

And it’s looking good.

We have a lot of execs coming back to join us for both days, making our venue in San Francisco their base of operations while diving in and out of the ongoing panel discussions and firesides. And there’s a burst of interest from first-timers.

That has as much to do with the opportunities presented by an industry that we all hope is on the mend as it does what we have planned.

That said, we have a great slate of events. Personally, I’ll be back with Catalent CEO Alessandro Maselli to make our predictions on the coming year. I’ll also take advantage of boasting rights to my last set of forecasts, which included some bullish remarks on M&A. At mid-year, they looked a little foolish, but Big Pharma came through for me in H2.

What’s next?

Then there’s a fireside with Vir CEO Marianne De Backer, as well as panels on oncology R&D and dealmaking, which anchor the first morning.

Executive editor Drew Armstrong and his team, meanwhile, have been beavering away at setting up the full production, which you can see here. It’s the most impressive lineup we’ve ever had, and it speaks to the growing strength and experience of the editorial group as well as our events specialists. 

If you have any questions about JPM, just hit reply and I’ll get back to you. I hope to see you in San Francisco. If I do, be sure to come by and say hello.