J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference 2026: The Practical Economic Value of AI
While the industry waits for AI-designed drugs to prove their mettle in the clinic, a more immediate return on investment is emerging in the development phase, points out Julien Meissonnier, Independent Director at Prolific Machines.
There is a lot of industry discussion around artificial intelligence right now; however, while the topic is undoubtedly important, it is probably more critical for industry to assess where the real, tangible returns on investment are being seen highlights Julien Meissonnier, Independent Director on the Board for Prolific Machines, ahead of the 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The discovery phase is an obvious area where AI is needed, he continues, but there is both excitement and skepticism in equal measure at the moment as to when AI-designed drugs will make it to the clinic.
“My view is that we should remain patient,” Meissonnier notes. “Biological validation still takes time, but that being said, I’m hearing from others and companies that I am working with that meaningful clinical moves and data will come this year [2026], and those will be important items.”
However, it is in fact within the development phase where Meissonnier anticipates there will be a much clearer and nearer-term return on investment for AI. “Drug development is fundamentally an interdisciplinary, data-driven process — you design small experiments, generate a body of knowledge, in order to deliver safe, efficient, and manufacturable medicines,” he remarks.
During development, a huge amount of effort and energy is spent by scientists trying to identify trends, root causes, and deviations, so that they can bring products and processes under control, Meissonnier explains. “I believe that AI applied to development can realistically save months, not weeks, per program, and that is a real economic value, where you gain returns,” he says.
“Extending that lens to biomanufacturing, things become even more compelling and interesting,” Meissonnier adds. Even though bioprocessing technologies are mature nowadays, the molecules being handled are living systems that have internal variabilities that are not always controllable, which have meant that there has been a reliance on indirect approaches to try and gain control, he confirms.
“This is where my interactions with Deniz Kent, the CEO and founder of Prolific Machines, really started,” Meissonnier reveals. “Deniz applied optogenetics in non-pharma bioprocessing at the time using light-controlled genetic switches to directly, dynamically, and reversibly control a wide variety of cellular mechanisms. So, when you combining that with AI-driven closed-loop optimization, you certainly gain a direct control over biology.”
“I believe,” Meissonnier asserts, “that this could represent a new standard for bioprocessing, meeting some major unmet needs, such as productivity, expression of complex constructs, intractable ones, and also with a significantly reduced footprint.”
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About the Speaker
Julien Meissonnier currently serves as an Independent Director on the Board for Prolific Machines — a company that is on a mission to create a healthier, more sustainable tomorrow with its Photomolecular platform. Most recently, Julien was the former Chief Scientific Officer for Catalent where he led the global R&D team, developing products, technologies, and services for customers, and advised the company on entry into new modalities. Julien also acts as a board member and strategic advisor to various life science investors and innovators.
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