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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Eli Lilly is picking up Ajax Therapeutics and its once-daily oral blood cancer candidate. The deal follows the pharma’s buyouts of ADC specialist CrossBridge Bio and in vivo CAR T company Kelonia Therapeutics.
The takeover will give Amneal control of four facilities to manufacture biosimilars for a planned wave of launches in the coming years.
The deals keep rolling in, with Lilly penning a $7 billion pact for gene delivery biotech Kelonia Therapeutics and UCB taking over cell therapy-focused Neurona Therapeutics; President Trump signed a new executive order supporting the development of psychedelic therapies, sparking fanfare and concern alike; and the FDA’s recent Replimune decision has triggered broader debate about the agency’s flexibility.
With programs from Eisai and Hansoh Pharmaceutical in hand, Tortugas Neuroscience has emerged with hopes of delivering daily oral treatments to patients with central nervous system conditions.
After entering the CAR T space in February, Eli Lilly is “jumping into in vivo CAR-T with both feet” with the acquisition of Kelonia Therapeutics and its gene delivery technology.
The acquisition of Neurona will put UCB in both the epilepsy and cell therapy space, even as many of its fellow pharmas move away from the latter modality.
J&J will hand over the rights to bota-vec for $25 million upfront, clearing MeiraGTx to seek regulatory approvals in the U.S. and EU in 2027.
Commitments in obesity- and diabetes-focused deals reached $22 billion in the first quarter of 2026—already eclipsing last year’s total of $20.3 billion, according to a new J.P. Morgan report.
Johnson and Johnson kicked off first-quarter earnings season with a “modest” beat and an ambitious goal; Replimune failed again to gain approval for its advanced melanoma therapy, as analysts tout increased accountability brought by the FDA’s new policy of publicizing complete response letters; and Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer candidate doubled survival in one of cancer’s most intractable foes.
Gilead, AstraZeneca and Vertex have acquired more than just a therapeutic asset in recent deals. BioSpace takes a look at five recent transactions where the staff was the real centerpiece.