Deals
The deal, which involves a $700 million upfront payment, gives AbbVie access to ISB 2001, a clinical-stage first-in-class trispecific antibody currently being tested for certain kinds of multiple myeloma as well as autoimmune indications.
FEATURED STORIES
Big Pharmas like Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novartis headed back to the dealmakers table multiple times, with 32 total deals counted across the industry for the first half.
Leading companies spent $1.4 billion upfront on licensing deals and embarked on vast R&D programs. Clinical setbacks mean many companies are unlikely to ever recoup their investments.
On the sidelines of BIO2025, Julie Gilmore, head of Lilly Gateway Labs, shares her thoughts on the $1.3 billion Verve Therapeutics buy, where Lilly’s therapeutic puck is potentially going and how the company is leveraging its unprecedented success in obesity to support young biotechs.
Subscribe to BioPharm Executive
Market insights and trending stories for biopharma leaders, in your inbox every Wednesday
THE LATEST
The rise of monoclonal antibodies brought back hope for stalling or reversing the devastating neurodegenerative disease. Big Pharma has taken notice with a handful of high-value deals, GlobalData reports.
Jefferies analysts called the proxy filing, which is a standard disclosure after a merger agreement, “much more intriguing than normal” given the regulatory turmoil it revealed.
Minovia’s lead product is MNV-201, an autologous hematopoietic stem cell product that is enriched with allogeneic mitochondria.
Flagship Pioneering’s ProFound Therapeutics will use its proprietary technology to mine the expanded proteome for novel cardiovascular therapeutics. Novartis has promised to pay up to $750 million per target, though it has not specified how many targets it will go after.
In May, Revolution Medicines projected its cash and equivalents of $2.1 billion would last into the second half of 2027. With new funding from Royalty Pharma, the biotech has withdrawn that runway end date.
BioNTech said in 2022 that it faced “threats of a groundless patent infringement suit” from a company that was “unable to bring to market any product to help in the fight against COVID-19.” Now, the mRNA biotech is buying that very company.
Sanofi paid a more than 300% premium on its acquisition of Vigil Neuroscience, suggesting a fierce battle to seal the deal. Across biopharma, companies are sometimes willing to put it all on the line for the right buyout. Novartis’ recent acquisition of Regulus for $800 million upfront provides a case study.
The pending deal was rumored overnight after a report from the Financial Times, spurring analysts to speculate that if true, the entire gene editing space would see a boost at the markets.
Big Pharma executives have not been shy about their desire for deals, but companies have been battling macro headwinds alongside Trump’s policies on drug pricing and tariff threats.
At a satellite kickoff event to the annual BIO meeting, investment bankers and VCs gave reasons for optimism amid a ‘volatile’ period for the industry.