Biogen has ten phase 3 programs that could start reporting results as early as next quarter, with regulatory submissions as early as next year — potentially five new medicines treating up to eight diseases.
Wall Street has been trading a company known for one aging multiple-sclerosis franchise like a growth stock. Christopher Viehbacher said that's the point: years of pipeline investment are about to start paying off at once.
"You asked me to choose between my children."
Viehbacher spent 20 years at GlaxoSmithKline and then six years running Sanofi globally before taking over Biogen in 2022, and has just closed a $5.6 billion acquisition to build out a kidney-disease franchise.
I listened to the full interview so you can skip it.
Here are the 6 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guest: Christopher Viehbacher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Biogen, previously global Chief Executive of Sanofi for six years after 20 years at GlaxoSmithKline
🎙️ Host: Sara Eisen, CNBC Anchor, interviewing from the Wells Fargo 2026 health care conference in Boston
📰 Published: 9 September 2026 on CNBC
🔴 CNBC | ⏱️ 7 min
Key Takeaways
Biogen has 10 phase 3 programs that could read out starting next quarter, with up to 5 new medicines across 8 diseases
Submissions to regulators could start as early as next year
Asked to name his most exciting trial readout, Viehbacher wouldn't pick one: "You asked me to choose between my children"
A phase 2 result found that reducing tau, not just amyloid, improved cognition in Alzheimer's patients for the first time
After six months, 70% of low-tau patients were stable and 60% showed some improvement
His $5.6 billion kidney-disease acquisition leaves Biogen "not really looking actively" for more deals, but open to being opportunistic
He says FDA turnover under new leadership hasn't slowed Biogen's own approvals
His verdict on AI in drug development: it won't find new drugs, but it will make the scientists who use it well more productive
1. A Decade of Waiting Ends
Sara Eisen opened by noting the market now trades Biogen like a growth stock rather than the legacy multiple sclerosis company it used to be.
The pipeline investment is reaching its payoff point at once. "We've been working on our pipeline now for a number of years," he said, and called it an inflection point toward sustainable revenue growth
Ten phase 3 programs could report results starting next quarter, with regulatory submissions as early as next year. "We could have five new molecules coming to market that could treat up to eight different diseases"
2. No Favorite Among Five
Asked which readout excites him most, Viehbacher declined to rank them.
He wouldn't choose a favorite. "You asked me to choose between my children. I think each of them"
The list spans five therapeutic areas he named directly: a rare kidney disease, a new lupus treatment, a first-time treatment for antibody-mediated rejection of kidney transplants, a medicine for Dravet syndrome — a childhood epilepsy disorder with seizures severe enough to affect mental development — and a next-generation treatment for spinal muscular atrophy
His framing of the company is continuity, not a pivot. "Biogen has been this company that has been dedicated to breakthrough medicine"
3. The Tau Bet on Alzheimer's
Biogen has two approved amyloid-targeting Alzheimer's drugs. Viehbacher said the newer bet is on the other hallmark protein of the disease, tau, which the field has long believed was the harder target.
He described Alzheimer's as a problem of neurons dying off long before symptoms appear, and said that once enough neurons are lost nobody knows how to bring them back — which is why the amyloid drugs work by trying to stop the damage early rather than reverse it
A phase 2 result showed reducing tau improved cognition for the first time, in patients who started with low tau levels, which he said determines how severe the disease becomes. "After six months, we had 70% of patients stable on disease and 60% actually showed some improvement"
That result still needs a phase 3 study to confirm it. "But I think if we add tau that we're going to have an even bigger impact on cognition"
Stopping It Early
A separate study, AHEAD 3-45, is testing patients who have no symptoms yet. The hypothesis is that amyloid buildup causes the later overproduction of tau, so stopping amyloid early enough might mean the tau, and the disease, never develops
He was careful about the size of the claim. "The promise is that we may not prevent it, but we could certainly delay it for a much longer" period
That study reads out in 2028, which he called a potential "real game changer for Alzheimer's"
4. The $5.6 Billion Kidney Deal
Eisen asked about Biogen's appetite for more acquisitions after its $5.6 billion deal, which independently confirmed reporting identifies as the purchase of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, adding two approved kidney and eye disease medicines plus a rare-kidney-disease drug candidate to Biogen's pipeline.
He is not shopping for the next one. "We're not really looking actively for acquisitions. We might be opportunistic"
The company's priority now is internal, not external. "What we're really doing is now focused on early stage development and research. We're actually already building the growth platform for Biogen for the 2030s"
5. FDA Turnover, No Slowdown
Eisen listed the changes at the FDA this year — a new commissioner, a new head of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, and thousands of staff departures — and asked whether it had affected Biogen's timelines.
He credited rank-and-file staff for keeping the agency on schedule. "There has been a lot of turbulence and turnover at the FDA. But I have to say, to the credit of really the passion and commitment of people at the FDA, they've maintained their timelines"
Biogen's own record has held up. "We've been able to get lots of new drugs approved. And I have to say, as a company, our experience has still been positive"
Asked directly whether approvals had gotten harder to get, he said: "No, not so far. No"
6. AI Speeds Up the Search
Eisen asked about AI in drug development on a day dominated by news of an AI researcher's warnings about the technology's risks.
His verdict draws a clear line between discovery and productivity. "AI is pretty much in every part of our business. It's, I don't think, going to revolutionize business, and I don't think it's going to find new drugs. But scientists who know how to use AI are going to be a lot more productive"
His concrete example is clinical trial recruiting, which he called Biogen's biggest single investment and a highly inefficient process today: signing up hospitals and doctors one by one. "If we're doing a 400 patient study, we may need more than 400 sites." He said AI now finds where those patients actually are, producing much faster clinical trial development
It is also used in internal audit, compliance and revenue forecasting, touching most of the business
He was explicit that the goal is speed, not headcount. "We don't look at it as a way of saving on headcount. It is about, you know, in our business, we're always up against the clock. We have a patent"
Bonus Insights
Eisen pressed directly on whether the approved Alzheimer's drugs actually reverse the disease rather than just slow it. Viehbacher did not claim otherwise, framing the amyloid drugs as trying to stop the damage mechanism rather than restore lost neurons
He said a definitive Alzheimer's diagnosis requires the presence of both amyloid and tau, part of why the field has chased both as targets
Eisen opened by noting Biogen's stock has traded like a growth name over the past year — a framing Viehbacher did not push back on
Viehbacher's bottom line is that a decade of pipeline investment is about to start paying out across five new medicines at once, and that the $5.6 billion kidney-disease deal is the platform he expects to build Biogen's next decade on rather than the first of another buying spree.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Biogen (Viehbacher's company: 10 phase 3 programs, five potential new medicines across eight diseases, and the platform he says is built for growth into the 2030s)
Apellis Pharmaceuticals (The company behind Biogen's $5.6 billion deal, referenced in the transcript only by price; independently confirmed as the kidney and eye disease acquisition Viehbacher discussed)
The AHEAD 3-45 study (Tests whether stopping amyloid buildup before symptoms appear can prevent or delay Alzheimer's; reads out in 2028)
The Food and Drug Administration (Subject of Eisen's question on leadership turnover; Viehbacher said Biogen's own approval timelines have held up despite it)
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