September 9, 2026

When Should Biotechs Begin Outreach for Meetings During J.P. Morgan’s Annual Healthcare Conference?

The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPMHC) is not so much a conference as a week-long collision of capital, science, strategy, and narrative-setting.

For biotechs – as I have said before – it is the single most important time to meet institutional investors, sell-side analysts, bankers, pharmaceutical companies, strategic partners, suppliers, and journalists – often all within a few city blocks and over a handful of days.

The mistake many companies make is treating JPMHC as a “January problem.” In truth, the most productive JPMHC schedules are engineered months in advance.

Crucially, the timing of outreach for those meetings determines not just who you meet (and thus the quality of the conversation), but also when (e.g., avoid Thursday meetings whenever possible).

Before we begin, it’s important to reframe the question posed in the title to be cognizant of two constituencies, namely:

• What should the outreach strategy be for biotechs invited to attend the JPMHC?
• What should the outreach strategy be for biotechs participating on the fringe of the JPMHC?

For biotechs attending the JPMHC

If you’re invited to present at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, the hosts will typically provide you with a meeting room for one-on-one investor meetings on the same day as your presentation (or fireside chat). Moreover, you will be represented on the JPMHC’s portal for investors to request meeting time with management, so a lot of your meetings will be the result of self-selected, inbound interest.

The question then becomes – what should you do during the other two-and-a-half days of the conference? And how should you best augment those days with additional investor, journalist, analyst, and Big Pharma meetings?

At this point you face the same questions around outreach as those biotechs outside of the conference: when to begin outreach and where to host those additional meetings.

For biotechs on the fringe of the JPMHC

Below is how we think about outreach sequencing by counterpart.

Investors:

When attempting to set up meetings with buy-side investors – particularly specialist healthcare funds – meeting outreach should begin as soon as people return from their Thanksgiving break.

By this time, investors will know definitively if they’re going to the JPMHC or not, and – if they’re attending the conference itself inside the Westin St. Francis – they will only be  a couple of weeks away from finalizing their in-conference meeting schedules (which will mean they will know when they have gaps to venture “outside”).

Some biotechs will develop investor “waitlists” ahead of late November outreach, whereby investors who reach out requesting a meeting ahead of time (October or November) can be noted for potential prioritization.

Bankers and analysts:

Sell-side analysts and bankers plan their JPMHCs early and aggressively. Outreach here should begin no later than October. Note that both types of counterparts typically have their own meeting rooms somewhere in close proximity to the Westin, so they are able to host meetings in that space.

Banker schedules can be especially fluid right up until – and sometimes during – the week itself, as priorities shift and companies cancel, add, or reshuffle meetings.

Big Pharma:

If your JPMHC objectives include business development conversations – with pharmaceutical companies, strategic collaborators, or potential acquirers – outreach should begin as early as September.

Large pharma organizations operate on longer planning cycles, with internal coordination across therapeutic areas, corporate development, and senior leadership. Calendars are often managed several layers away from decision-makers. Late outreach here is almost always unsuccessful.

Journalists and media:

Media outreach is frequently overlooked – or left until it’s too late.

If you plan to meet healthcare journalists, biotech reporters, or trade publications at the JPMHC, outreach should begin in November, sometimes earlier. Journalists build JPMHC schedules around themes, narratives, and access – not around last-minute press pushes.

This outreach is rarely about breaking news. Instead, it is about context-setting: background conversations, pipeline framing, management access, or helping reporters understand how your company fits into a broader sector narrative going into the new year.

Contractors and service providers:

Suppliers – CROs, CDMOs, advisors, and other service providers – tend to be more flexible, but that does not mean outreach should be casual.

October or November outreach works well here. These meetings often fill gaps in calendars – but only if those gaps exist.