Deals
The Gilead Sciences deal, which include $135 million in upfront and near-term payments, marks a critical platform validation for Vir Biotechnology as investors await an upcoming readout in solid tumors.
FEATURED STORIES
After Abogen Biosciences’ COVID shot missed the commercial window, the big question was whether its mRNA technology could create value beyond vaccines. Novartis’ $575 million upfront commitment is the clearest external validation yet of that broader therapeutic potential.
After a frantic second quarter, M&A steadied with just under $30 billion across 22 total transactions, according to a BioSpace analysis.
Last year, 11 major M&A deals were signed with women-led biotechs. The industry is nowhere near on track to meet that bar for 2026.
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TRexBio and Retension Pharmaceuticals are set to debut Friday, bringing this year’s biotech IPO count to 29 as the sector’s rebound continues. City Therapeutics and Iambic Therapeutics hope to push that number even higher.
With an internal non-opioid program nearing approval, Viatris is picking up Pacira BioSciences for a broader pain portfolio and the associated commercial infrastructure.
With the patent court siding with Halozyme, Merck faces restrictions on a product that won approval in Europe last year.
New data for Genmab and AbbVie’s bispecific antibody Epkinly wowed analysts and could set the partners up for an expanded approval in diffuse large B cell lymphoma; deals have flowed steadily this week, including Novartis’ nearly $8 billion bet on mRNA drugs with China’s Abogen Biosciences; and could Sarepta Therapeutics turn things around from last year’s annus horribilis?
With its acquisition of IntraBio, Shionogi will gain ownership over Aqneursa, which could hit peak global sales of $1 billion across its two indications in Niemann-Pick disease type C and ataxia-telangiectasia, according to Jefferies.
Eli Lilly first linked up with Gate Bioscience in July 2025 to leverage the biotech’s “Molecular Gate” engine to treat diseases with high unmet need. Monday’s expansion will add one undisclosed target to the existing agreement, with an option for a second.
After a series of clinical-stage failures, Alector is resetting around its preclinical blood-brain barrier delivery technology, securing a big pharma partnership along the way.
CSL will co-develop and co-promote Alentis Therapeutics’ anti-claudin-1 therapy lixudebart for kidney and liver conditions, including primary sclerosing cholangitis and a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by small blood vessel inflammation.
Novartis is licensing an mRNA-based therapy designed to produce a CD3xCD19 T cell engager inside the body. Abogen Biosciences says the in vivo approach could reduce the likelihood of dangerous cytokine release.
Sanofi and Regeneron have had a long and “sometimes contentious” partnership, BMO Capital Markets noted, as the companies contend with the looming loss of exclusivity of their blockbuster drug Dupixent.