Deals
A surprising deal from Vertex Pharmaceuticals adds to Big Pharma’s acquisitive streak as Crinetics folds into the cystic fibrosis drugmaker. Meanwhile, IPOs and venture capital raises trend upward, but mostly for derisked companies. Plus, FDA decisions slow only slightly as the hunt for a permanent leader drags on.
FEATURED STORIES
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.
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.
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AQILION AB is selling its entire stake in the portfolio company Glactone Pharma AB to Daniel Lifveredson Invest AB.
StartX Med company Kodiak Sciences, a clinical stage company developing innovative therapeutics to treat high prevalence ophthalmic diseases, recently reached a market cap of $3.56 billion.
Recipharm, the contract development and manufacturing organisation, has invested USD 450,000 into its Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, US facility to install a SprayVIEW® system that will support inhalation and nasal product development.
Merck snapped up the company to gain ArQule’s lead investigational candidate, ARQ 531, a novel, oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor currently in a Phase II dose-expansion study for the treatment of B-cell malignancies.
Sanofi announced it is acquiring Synthorx for $68 per share in cash, a value of $2.5 billion. The deal has been unanimously approved by both companies’ boards.
Ardelyx, Inc. has announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 20,000,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $6.25 per share, before underwriting discounts and commissions, for gross proceeds of $125,000,000.
4TEEN4 Pharmaceuticals GmbH announced the closing of a EUR 6.9 million Series A financing round.
Fundraising will support the expansion of Hummingbird Bioscience’s discovery pipeline and rapid development of its portfolio of targeted antibody therapeutics
Bpifrance and Pfizer Ventures co-led international investor syndicate
The company will further develop its high-resolution spinal cord stimulation focal pain therapy and perform clinical studies