Mergers & acquisitions

AstraZeneca has apparently made a $10 billion bid to acquire Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, an offer William Blair suspects will not be the last for the hot ticket metabolic biotech.

Debtor-in-process financing up to $55 million could keep the lights on at Karyopharm Therapeutics for its multiple myeloma and myelofibrosis programs as the biotech waits to see if its union with Ayrmid will go through.

“You don’t spend one and a half billion dollars without creating jobs,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said as the pharma announced a new cost savings program alongside third quarter earnings.

Focused on ensuring growth beyond Dupixent, Sanofi wants to acquire derisked assets that may benefit from the French pharma’s commercial capabilities, executives said on Friday as they reported third-quarter earnings.

Biogen is growing as planned, with marketed products generating more revenue and multiple late-stage readouts expected over the next year. Building out an early-stage pipeline would be a bonus, CEO Chris Viehbacher said on a Q3 earnings call Wednesday.

Growth portfolio products like Leqembi and Spinraza helped drive Biogen to $2.8 billion in revenue for the third quarter.

Merck stole the show at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) annual conference, with new data on its Moderna-partnered personalized cancer vaccine leaking prior to the presentation and antibody-drug conjugate sac-TMT making a splash in endometrial cancer; Bristol Myers Squibb revealed the death of a patient with multiple sclerosis in an early-stage trial of zola-cel; and pharma is on track to easily surpass last year’s deal count.

The largest pharmas have a collective $188 billion in firepower to spend on M&A transactions, with all but one signaling a desire to execute, according to a new analysis from Leerink Partners.

Gilead Sciences has picked up a new inflammatory disease program from China’s PepStar Therapeutics to pair with the Phase 2 inflammatory bowel disease asset emvistegrast.

China may be taking the majority of licensing deals this year but those transactions don’t tell the whole story, according to Locust Walk, which points to the spike in M&A among U.S. biotechs as leveling the playing field.