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After debuting on the public markets with $256.3 million and raking in an additional $472 million, Veradermics has emerged as one of biotech’s biggest post-IPO standouts. CEO Reid Waldman credits the weight loss craze for establishing consumer-driven channels.
Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
The total of 52 mergers and acquisitions for the first half of 2026 reflects what analysts, industry watchers and executives are saying over and over: M&A is back.
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Novartis, Eli Lilly and more put on their deal-making caps, Bristol Myers Squibb targets $2 billion in savings through 2027, sales continue to soar for Lilly and Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1s and Regeneron sues Sanofi over an alleged failure to provide adequate information about Dupixent sales.
From revenue to R&D investment, Novo and Lilly and their mega-blockbuster weight loss drugs Zepbound and Wegovy have moved into a new pharma stratosphere, far eclipsing their rivals.
French biotech Inventiva’s layoffs and pipeline shift are expected to help keep the company operational into the second half of 2026.
Compounding pharmacies aren’t the only makers of off-brand versions of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. The situation is causing the FDA regulatory headaches and, more seriously, posing potential risks to the public.
Novartis is paying $925 million upfront to acquire Anthos Therapeutics, whose launch the pharma backed in February 2019.
Following an initial report from Reuters, Merck KGaA confirmed that it is in talks with SpringWorks for a potential acquisition, though details of its offer have yet to be revealed.
Eli Lilly inked two collaborations on Monday, one focused on cardiometabolic diseases with South Korea’s OliX Pharmaceuticals and another for cancer therapies with Australia’s AdvanCell.
Vertex expects to make the newly approved non-opioid pain medicine Journavx available by the end of February.
The carve-out acquisition will allow Bain to capitalize on the “promising signs for growth” in the Japanese life sciences market, recently revitalized by more industry-friendly policy changes from the government.
Leqembi’s sales in the U.S. continue to underwhelm, overshadowed by its growth in international markets.