Design scaled. Proof didn't. Now proof has a passport.
In Q3 2026, the cost of designing a drug candidate fell sharply, and the cost of proving one works in humans stayed where it was. At the same time, the United States turned tariffs, drug pricing and FDA user fees into instruments that price where clinical evidence and manufacturing happen. Every piece of this was published before September 30.
Convergence Radar · Q3 2026
AI5/5
Robotics4/5
Health Evo4/5
Energy2/5
Quantum2/5
The molecule became an input.
For two decades, the expensive part of early discovery was finding a molecule worth testing. In Q3 2026 three public data points showed that step turning into a commodity: a general-purpose model matching specialist hit rates, a top-ten pharma signing to deploy an agentic co-scientist at scale, and a university simulating an entire drug company in software.
The analysis continues for four chapters