Roche joins obesity drug chase with $2.7B deal for startup Carmot

The acquisition of Carmot, which had been planning an IPO, will hand Roche three weight loss medicines in early clinical testing.

By Ben Fidler • Dec. 4, 2023

Concentra, on the hunt for deals, bids for LianBio

The Tang Capital-controlled company is bidding for LianBio shortly after making takeover offers for Rain Oncology and Theseus Pharmaceuticals.

By Delilah Alvarado • Dec. 1, 2023

AbbVie joins ADC dealmaking with $10B ImmunoGen buyout

The acquisition of ImmunoGen gives AbbVie an approved medicine for ovarian cancer, and continues a pharma spending spree on antibody-drug conjugates.

By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 30, 2023

Cigna, Humana in talks to merge: WSJ

The merger would have major effects for the makeup of the U.S. health insurance industry, and would almost certainly face a regulatory challenge.

By Rebecca Pifer • Nov. 29, 2023

Bristol Myers pours $100M into RNA drugs for cardiovascular diseases

Tuesday’s deal signals the pharmaceutical giant's confidence in Avidity Biosciences and its so-called antibody oligonucleotide conjugates.

By Jacob Bell • Nov. 28, 2023

Merck to buy private biotech Caraway in neuroscience deal

In a deal worth up to $610 million, Merck will gain a pipeline of neuroscience and rare disease programs from a startup it previously backed.

By Delilah Alvarado • Nov. 21, 2023

Homology enters reverse merger with Q32 Bio

The deal, which will result in a combined company operating under Q32's name, comes months after Homology laid off much of its staff.

By Delilah Alvarado • Nov. 16, 2023

Gilead expands Arcellx cancer cell therapy deal

The deal gives Gilead an estimated 13% ownership in Arcellx and extends the company’s cash runway into 2027.

By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 15, 2023

Novartis licenses Legend cell therapy for lung cancer

With the deal, the Swiss pharma is exploring a tumor target, DLL3, that’s thwarted past drugmaker efforts to attack it.

By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 13, 2023

AstraZeneca stays in GLP-1 drug race with new deal

AstraZeneca is paying $185 million upfront to gain access to an experimental GLP-1 drug from China-based biotech Eccogene.

By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 9, 2023

Bristol Myers pays $100M for a different kind of ADC

A deal with Orum Therapeutics gives the large pharma access to a blood and bone marrow cancer drug that's ready to enter clinical testing.

By Gwendolyn Wu • Nov. 6, 2023

Roivant’s $7B Roche deal was a ‘moment of opportunity,’ CEO says

The sale of Telavant and its TL1A drug was born out of a J.P. Morgan conference meeting, Roivant head Matt Gline said, and reflected the biotech’s flexible strategy.

By Michael Gibney • Oct. 31, 2023

Sanofi invests in MeiraGTx and its gene-regulating technology

In addition to Sanofi’s investment, the biotech signaled it’s weighing deals with “multiple” other companies that have expressed interest in its work.

By Delilah Alvarado • Oct. 30, 2023

Sanofi to divest consumer unit, joining pharma industry shift

The restructuring came as the French company forecast an earnings drop in 2024, prompting a stock selloff that erased about $20 billion in market value.

By Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 27, 2023

Amgen to lay off 350 Horizon staffers weeks after closing $28B deal

The latest round of cuts brings the company’s total announced workforce reductions this year to more than 1,000.

By Kristin Jensen • Oct. 25, 2023

OrbiMed raises $4.3B in new funds for startup investing

The money will be spread across three investment funds and comes at a time when investment into biotech remains shakier than in years past.

By Delilah Alvarado • Oct. 24, 2023

Roche to gain gut disease drug in $7.1B deal for Roivant subsidiary

The Swiss pharma has agreed to buy Televant, a company set up by Roivant and Pfizer to develop a promising inflammatory bowel disease treatment.

By Ned Pagliarulo • Oct. 23, 2023

Merck cancer drug deal caps pharma investment influx into ‘ADC’ field

With the alliance, Merck joins Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Gilead in staking major bets on the potential for antibody-drug conjugates to reshape cancer treatment.

By Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 20, 2023

Roche is stuck on molecular glue

One month after Roche’s Genentech inked a similar deal, the Swiss pharma is now paying $50 million to work with Monte Rosa on molecular glue medicines for cancer and neurological diseases.

By Jacob Bell • Oct. 17, 2023

Novo adds to deal spree with blood pressure drug buy

Worth up to $1.3 billion, the deal with Singapore-based KBP Biosciences builds the Ozempic maker’s armory of metabolic disease drugs.

By Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 16, 2023

‘Project NextGen’ picks new mRNA, intranasal COVID vaccines for funding

The awards, to biotechs Gritstone, Codagenix and CastleVax, are part of the program’s plan to develop vaccines with broader or longer-lasting benefits.

By Delilah Alvarado • Oct. 13, 2023

European Commission orders Illumina to divest Grail

The order includes an undisclosed timeline and potential additional fines. Illumina, which has been anticipating the decision, maintains the commission does not have jurisdiction over the completed merger.

By Susan Kelly • Oct. 12, 2023

After summer slump, biotech M&A has a good week

There have been few bigger-ticket acquisitions recently. But a string of deals announced in early October, including the purchase of Orchard Therapeutics, may affirm the forecasts of analysts who expect M&A to tick up.

By Jacob Bell • Oct. 10, 2023

Bristol Myers to buy KRAS cancer drug developer Mirati for $4.8B

Mirati investors could also receive another $1 billion should an experimental cancer drug the biotech is developing make it to U.S. regulators’ desks.

By Ned Pagliarulo • Oct. 8, 2023

Amgen completes $28B Horizon buyout that was challenged by FTC

Regulators’ holdup of the deal had stoked investor fears of greater scrutiny on M&A. In the end, Amgen agreed to requirements meant to guard against product “bundling.”

By Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 6, 2023