By far, the largest acquisition of 2024 was Novo Holdings’ yet-to-be-closed buyout of manufacturer Catalent at $16.5 billion. Outside of that, the leading pharmaceutical companies kept to less than $5 billion per deal.
Pharma had an appetite for M&A this year as expected but it seems the industry was more interested in snacking than buying a whole turkey.
The largest deal announced by far was Novo Holdings’ proposed $16.5 billion buyout of contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Catalent. Outside of that, the leading pharmaceutical companies all found something good in a buffet of sub-$5 billion deals.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals clocked the biggest biotech acquisition of the year, dropping just under that $5 billion for Alpine Immune Sciences. Novartis came back for deal after deal, executing four and spending just over $9 billion. Its largest was technically the $2.9 billion acquisition of MorphySys, which rose to $4.79 billion after debt and all transaction fees were considered.
One big player is noticeably absent from the list: Pfizer. That’s because the New York pharma bought out Seagen last year—wiping it out of this year’s pool of buyers, Perceptive Therapeutics CEO Thijs Spoor told BioSpace. The deal “sucked up an awful lot of Pfizer’s capacity to do anything apart from Seagen.”
Conversely, there have been some “hyper-funded entities,” Spoor added, like GLP-1 heavyweights Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Lilly acquired Morphic Holdings in July for $3.19 billion.
Part of the reason this year’s typical deal value was less than $5 billion is that small biotechs are increasingly opting to take their drugs to the market on their own, Kirsten Axelsen, a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and senior policy advisor at DLA Piper, told BioSpace in an interview. That means a few less late-stage options available for pharma to purchase.
In terms of target areas, the oncology space has also cooled down slightly, with more deals in endocrine and metabolic drugs. Pharmas have also continued to dip into autoimmune and immunology.
One notable exception in oncology, though, was radiopharmaceuticals, where there was plenty of activity, from M&A to licensing deals. The frenzy began a little over a year ago, with Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly buying companies developing the radiation-based therapeutics. Since then, the deal strategy has shifted from building out infrastructure and acquiring intellectual property to investing in innovation, according to Spoor.
Last December, BMS, AbbVie and others pulled off a Christmas surprise with a few late deals. So while we know a few big deals could sneak in before year end, below we recap the five top pharma deals of the year so far.
Editor’s Note: The following deals were ranked by total transaction value with data from S&P Capital IQ.
Vertex Scoops Up Alpine Immune Sciences in Autoimmune Investment
Date: April 10
Deal Value: $4.96 billion
Cystic fibrosis juggernaut Vertex added autoimmune and inflammatory disease player Alpine Immune Sciences to its portfolio this spring. The highlight was lead asset povetacicept, a dual antagonist of the BAFF and APRIL cytokines currently being tested in a Phase II trial for IgA nephropathy (IgAN).
The deal puts Vertex up against Novartis, which has an IgAN therapy in Phase III testing. The drug, called atrasentan, was picked up in Novartis’ $3.2 billion acquisition of Chinook Therapeutics in June 2023.
Novartis Bucks the Trend With MorphoSys Cancer Buy
Date: February 5
Deal Value: $4.79 billion
This deal was one of the oncology outliers of 2024. Novartis snapped up the German small molecule developer for a total transaction value of $4.79 billion, significantly more than the originally announced $2.9 billion.
Novartis mainly had its eyes on pelabresib, a small molecule inhibitor of the BET protein that is currently in a Phase III trial in combination with Incyte’s Jakafi for patients with myelofibrosis. However, the drug has since taken a rocky path, after new safety concerns came to light in April. Novartis announced in the third quarter that it needs more time to consider the regulatory path for the drug. The Swiss pharma also took an $800 million impairment charge due to the acquisition.
Gilead Also Invests in Autoimmune With CymaBay Therapeutics
Date: February 12
Deal Value: $4.4 billion
Gilead spent a cool $4.4 billion on CymaBay and its treatment seladelpar for the rare autoimmune disease primary biliary cholangitis, just as the biotech announced its new drug application had been accepted by the FDA. This fits in with a year-long trend of pharmas searching for late-stage assets; it doesn’t get much more late-stage than this.
Seladelpar (to be marketed as Livdelzi) has since been granted accelerated approval for the indication, offering Gilead immediate satisfaction for its purchase.
Eli Lilly Doubles Down on I&I in Morphic Holdings Purchase
Date: July 8
Deal Value: $3.2 billion
This all-cash transaction gave Lilly a few more immunology assets to play with, including lead candidate MORF-057, a small molecule inhibitor of the α4β7 integrin that is currently being developed for inflammatory bowel diseases. The drug is currently in Phase II trials for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The oral drug would be a competitor to Takeda’s Entyvio in both diseases. Lilly also gained pipeline programs in oncology and pulmonary hypertensive diseases.
Merck Looks to the Eyes With Eyebiotech
Date: May 29
Deal Value: $3 billion
Merck plans to spread out the payments for its acquisition of eye disease therapy maker Eyebiotech, but the total value hit $3 billion when added up. The initial upfront payment was $1.3 billion, to be followed by $1.7 billion in developmental, regulatory and commercial milestone potential.
The New Jersey pharma picked up late-stage eye disease asset Restoret, which moved into a Phase IIb/III clinical trial in September for diabetic macular edema. An earlier Phase Ib/IIa trial showed visual improvements in patients who took the therapy.
