Despite unprecedented scientific innovation, only a small fraction of discoveries ever translate into medicines that reach patients. The bottleneck is no longer innovation, it is translation. This session explores why promising science so often fails to make the journey from bench to batch. From early discovery challenges to development complexity, funding dynamics, and manufacturing realities, success depends on far more than breakthrough biology alone. The keynote will offer a perspective from drug discovery, highlighting why many programs encounter fundamental limitations long before clinical development begins. What looks like great science may not yet be robust, reproducible, or translatable into a viable therapeutic solution.

A multidisciplinary panel — spanning biotech entrepreneurship, investment, development, and manufacturing — will build on this perspective and examine where and why translation breaks down in practice. Together, they will discuss the critical decisions, common blind spots, and systemic challenges that determine whether an innovation becomes a medicine.

Rather than focusing on success stories, this session aims to provide an honest look at the realities of translation — and what it truly takes to bridge the gap between innovation and cure.