Discover: Deciding When to Wind Down Discovery: Navigating the Off-Ramp From Scientific Startup to Clinical-Stage Organization
9:30 am - Wednesday 9th December 2026
- How do you determine the right operating model for your discovery function, and know when the moment has arrived to shift resources from discovery to clinical development?
- Learn how Ventus Therapeutics reduced its organization from around 100 employees to 35 in 2025, scaling down its discovery function to protect the clinical trial budget as financing conditions tightened for a pre-catalyst biotech
- Discover how full transparency with employees about the organization’s likely trajectory, and a shift toward equipping people for their next opportunity rather than promising a long-term one, helped Ventus retain talent through the reduction with almost no attrition, even where discovery staff saw little value in their equity
