Why capital efficiency anchors biotech’s new commercial playbook

As biotech navigates a mixed funding and dealmaking environment in 2026, one principle continues to guide the commercial playbook: capital efficiency. So says Jacob Lai, Vice President and Head of Commercial at Star Therapeutics, who sat down with Marc Iskowitz in the latest episode of The Space Life Sciences Podcast to discuss how that environment is shaping go-to-market strategy. Jacob explains why biotech’s modest resurgence, with capital markets becoming more selective, highlights the continued importance of being capital-efficient and how commercial teams can make smarter investments in data and analytics infrastructure. Of course, the conversation also explores the growing impact of AI, and Jacob shares his vision for commercial ops as a driver of organizational change for some of these new modalities.