Deals
AstraZeneca and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group have already inked two other agreements this year, including an obesity-focused deal in January and one focused on chronic diseases in June.
FEATURED STORIES
Dealmaking across biopharma is shifting dramatically as the SEC rolls out new regulations to ease burdens on newly public companies and antitrust review is replaced by drug pricing as the policy concern du jour.
Dual and even triple or quadruple track processes have come roaring back in 2026 thanks to a glut of M&A that has refilled investors’ wallets. Big Pharma is being put on notice that time is critical if they want to acquire.
While merger and acquisition activity has been robust of late, frequent changes in guidance and leadership at the regulator add risk to any transaction.
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The company is “especially excited” about an immune cell therapy manufacturing technology included in the deal, a Merck KGaA executive said.
Novartis and Antares Therapeutics are shooting for the stars, launching a joint mission to develop small molecule oncology therapies.
Lilly has already spent more than $25 billion in potential business development commitments this year, including the $6.3 billion buyout of Centessa Pharmaceuticals that closed today.
AbbVie scooped up immunology player Apogee Therapeutics for nearly $11 billion in one of the year’s top deals to-date, while Sanofi made a big play to survive its upcoming Dupixent patent cliff; FDA uncertainty continues as the agency changes direction on gene therapies by uniQure and REGENXBIO; and Jef Akst and Annalee Armstrong report back from San Diego.
As Sangamo runs out of cash, Eli Lilly and Astellas have emerged as stalking horse bidders for key assets, including a Fabry gene therapy currently being submitted for potential FDA approval.
With drug pricing now embedded in U.S. policy, business development teams in biotech and pharma are changing the way they strike deals, including acknowledging policy uncertainties with renegotiation clauses.
Having stuck with local production in the years when offshoring to lower-cost locations was in fashion, Aquestive’s CEO is well placed to explain what the recent reshoring drive means for manufacturers.
China’s Haisco Pharmaceutical continues to wield deals, this time out-licensing rights to two late-stage programs to New Jersey biotech Nuvectis.
Formed by Sofinnova Partners and former Sanofi executive Frédéric Marrache, Bionyra Pharma emerged from stealth Monday with an initial focus in inflammatory bowel disease and atopic dermatitis.
Eli Lilly plans to use BioArctic’s technology to shuttle an undisclosed drug candidate into the brain. The pharma hasn’t specified which neurodegenerative disease it will target.