Chief executives of leading global biopharmaceutical companies met in New York on November 3–4, 2026, for the Biopharmaceutical CEO Roundtable (BCR). The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) announced the meeting in a November 5 statement. The leaders discussed a shifting global policy environment and cast the industry as a strategic partner to governments.
The central message was as much economic as medical. According to the statement, countries with predictable policies that recognize medical innovation are better placed to attract investment and jobs. It framed spending on health and medicines not merely as a cost, but as “an investment in healthier populations, stronger economies, and more resilient societies.”
For oncology, the agenda reads like a map of what decides how fast new cancer medicines reach patients. How innovation is valued, how intellectual property is protected, how quickly regulators move and how health systems pay all featured.
What is the BCR?
The Biopharmaceutical CEO Roundtable is a global policy forum organized by IFPMA. It brings together the chief executives of IFPMA member companies to discuss global health challenges and how industry can help shape public health policy. Where possible, it also meets government leaders.
The forum typically convenes twice a year. In April 2025, CEOs met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. In November 2025, they met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi in Berlin. In May 2026, more than 20 industry leaders met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo.
According to IFPMA’s May 2026 release, the BCR is chaired by Roche CEO Dr. Thomas Schinecker, with Daiichi Sankyo CEO Hiroyuki Okuzawa as vice chair. IFPMA Director General Dr. David Reddy serves as its Secretary General. The forum has also backed initiatives such as the AMR Action Fund and the Berlin Declaration on equitable pandemic preparedness.
What the CEOs discussed
According to IFPMA, the CEOs identified five conditions that underpin both patient access today and investment in future medicines:
- Value of innovation: recognition of the value that innovative medicines and vaccines deliver.
- Intellectual property: strong IP frameworks.
- Regulation: agile regulatory systems.
- Health systems: resilient health systems.
- Financing: sustainable funding that keeps pace with patient needs and scientific progress.
The statement linked these conditions to where companies choose to place R&D, advanced manufacturing and skilled jobs. It named no specific countries, laws, companies or executives.
Why it matters for oncology
Oncology is where the BCR’s priorities converge most sharply. The IQVIA Institute counted 25 novel oncology active substances launched globally in 2024, and 132 between 2020 and 2024. Global spending on cancer medicines reached $252 billion at list prices in 2024 and is projected to reach $441 billion by 2029.
That pairing of rapid innovation and rising cost puts cancer drugs at the center of the value and financing debates the CEOs raised. Novel modalities such as cell and gene therapies, antibody-drug conjugates and multispecific antibodies account for 35% of oncology trials, according to IQVIA’s 2025 report. Bringing them to patients depends on agile regulators and on health systems equipped for complex care.
Access is uneven even among wealthy countries. IQVIA found that France, Germany and the US use nearly two to three times more PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors per capita than the UK and Canada. It also warned that the shift to newer modalities could widen disparities in low- and middle-income countries.
Whether governments expand spending on innovation, as the BCR urges, or tighten cost controls, as Germany did this year, will shape how quickly these therapies reach patients.
The policy backdrop
The New York statement named no governments, but its themes track a year of escalating disputes over what wealthy countries pay for new medicines.
- United States: A May 2025 executive order on most-favored-nation (MFN) pricing seeks to tie US drug prices to the lowest paid in a group of reference countries. An April 2026 Section 232 proclamation set a default 100% tariff on certain patented drug imports, with 15% for products from the EU and some other partners. Companies with MFN pricing and US manufacturing deals can qualify for a zero rate, and 26 had joined the MFN scheme, according to the Berlin think tank SWP.
- Germany: On June 18, 2026, the US Trade Representative (USTR) opened a Section 301 investigation into Germany’s “persistent underpayment” for innovative medicines, which it says loads a disproportionate share of global R&D costs onto US consumers. On July 10, German lawmakers passed a health insurance savings law that, per SWP, raises the mandatory manufacturer rebate from 7% to 15.5%. The governing coalition said the law was needed to avert a looming insurance deficit; IFPMA’s Reddy urged Berlin to reverse course.
- Japan: At the BCR’s May meeting in Tokyo, CEOs warned that Japan’s share of global pharmaceutical R&D is in structural decline and that MFN policies risk compounding it. IFPMA also reported that 245 new medicines launched in the US or Europe between 2014 and 2023 were not available in Japan.
Read against that backdrop, the BCR’s call for predictable policy speaks to governments weighing tight health budgets against pressure to pay more for innovation. Next to watch: USTR’s determination in the Germany probe, due within 12 months of its launch, and whether markets flagged in the 2026 Special 301 Report, such as Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea, face similar action.
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