Big Themes for JPM 2026

AI is no longer a feature layered onto existing systems. It is the system. It is reshaping how drugs are discovered, how clinical trials are run, how disease is predicted, how care is delivered, and how outcomes are measured.

This actively shapes how we deploy capital in Alumni Ventures’ Healthcare Fund, which invests in AI-native biotech, digital health, and healthcare infrastructure companies aligned with this shift.

This transition is unfolding amid powerful structural forces. Pharmaceutical companies are preparing for more than $250B in patent cliffs in 2028 and 2029. M&A activity is resurging as large incumbents deploy capital to acquire innovation rather than build it internally, with over $1T in firepower available to do so.

Investors are favoring de-risked rounds, clinical proof, and a clear path to scale. Therapeutic focus is converging around oncology, neuroscience, and complex chronic disease, while obesity and metabolic health remain massive long-term markets.

Within this reset, hype has faded. Infrastructure matters. Platforms with durable assets matter. Data quality matters. And this comes with cautious optimism for more deals to pick up this year.

The companies that may define the next generation of healthcare are already emerging. They share one defining trait: AI is embedded at their core.

Below are key themes that dominated JPM 2026. Alumni Ventures is investing early in companies advancing these themes alongside leading venture firms, and individual investors can access these opportunities today through AV’s Healthcare Fund and HealthTech Syndicate investments.

1. AI × Biotech: Becoming Indispensable

In biotech, AI is no longer optional.

Drug discovery is becoming a computational problem. Biology is turning into data. And companies that cannot integrate AI into their scientific workflow are and will fall behind. The largest companies in the world, such as Lilly, are investing billions of dollars in AI and AI driven investments. 

New companies are building closed-loop systems where AI designs experiments, learns from results, and continuously improves the underlying science.

AV has recognized this trend and has invested in some of the trailblazing companies in the space:

These companies are not using AI to move faster. They are using AI to do things that were previously impossible.

At JPM 2026, the divide between AI-native biotech and legacy biotech was obvious.

2. Personalized Health Is Becoming Predictive

Healthcare has historically been reactive. Patients seek care after symptoms appear. Interventions happen late. Outcomes are measured episodically.

The next frontier of healthcare is prevention, data-driven intervention and personalized therapeutics. This requires data. High quality continuous, longitudinal biological data collected often and over years, not one-off visits.

The companies leading personalized health are building platforms that collect continuous biological data and use AI to detect risk earlier, tailor interventions, and prevent disease before it manifests.

AV has invested in several category-defining companies at the center of this shift:

Whoever owns longitudinal biological data owns the future of healthcare. AI is what turns that data into foresight.

At JPM 2026, personalized health was not framed as wellness. It was framed as core healthcare infrastructure.

3. Digital Health’s Second Act: Integration and Evidence

Digital health’s first wave was about access. The second wave is about outcomes.

Healthcare systems no longer want point solutions that live outside clinical workflows. They want platforms that integrate seamlessly, demonstrate measurable impact, and align with reimbursement models.

AI is enabling this shift from tools to systems. 

AV has invested in companies building the infrastructure layer of modern healthcare delivery:

This is not about digitizing healthcare. It is about rebuilding it with intelligence embedded at the core.

At JPM 2026, digital health winners will be defined by integration, evidence, and durability.

4. Biotech is Now Geopolitical

For years, the global biotech industry has operated under a quiet assumption: that innovation flowed outward from the U.S. and Europe, and the rest of the world followed. JPM Healthcare 2026 made it unmistakably clear that this era is ending: biotech is now a geopolitical and global competitive game and Western incumbents no longer control the board.

Perhaps the most striking shift at JPM 2026 was how matter-of-factly China entered the conversation. Not as a risk footnote. Not as a low-cost outsourcing hub. But as a full-stack biotech competitor.

China is no longer “Emerging”, it has arrived, and Chinese biotechs routinely:

At JPM, this was no longer controversial, as it was a widely accepted reality. The question investors asked was no longer whether Chinese innovation matters, but how Western companies should respond. And that response is still forming.

What JPM 2026 revealed most starkly is that the traditional U.S. advantages, deep capital markets, elite science, and regulatory leadership are no longer unassailable.

Yes, the U.S. still leads. But:

Meanwhile, other regions are optimizing for speed, cost, and scale. The result is a global biotech ecosystem that feels less hierarchical and more competitive than ever before.

One of the quiet takeaways from JPM 2026 is that biotech leadership has changed. Today’s CEO must understand not just biology and capital markets, but also international regulatory strategy, supply-chain geopolitics, cross-border data governance, and national security sensitivities around health innovation.

This is uncomfortable terrain for an industry that prides itself on science-first thinking. But it’s unavoidable.

What JPM 2026 Will Make Clear and What That Means for You

JPM 2026 was not just a conference about healthcare including AI, digital health, or biotech innovation. It was a signal that the operating environment for healthcare has fundamentally changed.

Across AI-native biotech, personalized health, digital care, and now geopolitically competitive innovation, the pattern was consistent:

The winners are not chasing trends. They are building systems. They are embedding AI at the core, not the edge. They are designed to withstand capital cycles, regulatory friction, and global competition.

What has changed is not simply how healthcare companies are built, but also it’s what they must be resilient against.

Innovation now happens in a world where:

AI-native architecture is not just a speed advantage. It is becoming a defensive moat against cost pressure, slower incumbents, and increasingly, against global competitors operating with different constraints and incentives.

For investors, JPM 2026 reinforced a clear takeaway: the next generation of healthcare leaders will be defined yes by novelty and but even more by durability, whether technological, clinical, and strategic.

At Alumni Ventures, we are investing early in these AI-native healthcare companies through our Healthcare Fund, partnering with founders who are building enduring platforms in a more competitive, more complex global landscape.

For accredited investors looking to gain exposure to AI-native biotech, digital health, and healthcare infrastructure, the Alumni Ventures Healthcare Fund and HealthTech Syndicate offer direct access to these opportunities alongside leading venture firms.

The future of healthcare is already being built, and this is how you can invest in it too.

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