Deals
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Sobi buyout breaks down
Three months after proposing a roughly $8 billion acquisition of Sobi, the investment firms Advent International and GIC have withdrawn their offer.
By Jacob Bell • Dec. 3, 2021 -
Novartis
Novartis pays $150M for access to UCB's Parkinson's drug
UCB's experimental pill is one of the most advanced projects that's aimed at blocking accumulation of an abnormal protein in patients' brains.
By Jonathan Gardner • Dec. 2, 2021 -
Warren Little via Getty Images
GSK sets sights on brain diseases through Oxford partnership
Equipped with $40 million in funding, a new institute from GSK and Oxford will initially focus on developing treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS and other neurological conditions.
By Jacob Bell • Dec. 2, 2021 -
SciePro via Getty Images
Blueprint, taking aim at larger drugmakers, becomes a biotech buyer
A $250 million acquisition of startup Lengo Therapeutics has given Blueprint a lung cancer drug that could compete with medicines from Takeda and J&J.
By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 29, 2021 -
GSK dives into NASH, RNA interference with Arrowhead deal
GSK has secured rights to a genetic medicine in early-stage human testing for NASH, a disease thought to affect millions of people that has proven to be a tough target for drugmakers.
By Jacob Bell , Ned Pagliarulo • Nov. 23, 2021 -
Getty Images
Neurocrine stocks up on a biotech's psychiatric drugs
A new deal with Sosei Heptares hands Neurocrine a "broad portfolio" of drugs for schizophrenia, dementia and other neuropsychiatric disorders.
By Jacob Bell • Nov. 22, 2021 -
Permission granted by Gilead Sciences
Gilead pays up to retain rights to Arcus cancer drugs
The biotech will pay $725 million to opt into rights on four experimental medicines developed by Arcus, including ones that could challenge Merck's Keytruda in lung cancer.
By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 18, 2021 -
Novo Nordisk
Novo to acquire Dicerna for more than $3B amid RNA drug resurgence
The acquisition would give Novo Nordisk ownership of one of the oldest and largest developers of RNA interference drugs, along with a web of potential royalty streams.
By Ben Fidler • Updated Nov. 18, 2021 -
Permission granted by Biohaven Pharmaceuticals
Pfizer buys into Biohaven's fast-selling migraine medicine
The pharmaceutical giant will pay Biohaven $500 million for ex-U.S. rights to rimegepant — a sizable licensing deal, though not the buyout that some of the biotech's investors appeared to be hoping for.
By Ned Pagliarulo • Nov. 9, 2021 -
Courtesy of Sanofi
Eye-focused gene therapy startup gets $60M cash infusion from Sanofi
Shortly after postponing a $135 million IPO, Gyroscope has found another way to back a treatment for a disease that's become a top target of multiple drugmakers.
By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 8, 2021 -
Novartis
Novartis to sell long-held stake in Roche for nearly $21B
Novartis, which paid around $5 billion for its shares two decades ago, says it will gain about $14 billion from its sale and use the proceeds to further its current strategy.
By Jacob Bell • Nov. 4, 2021 -
Getty / Edited by BioPharma Dive
Cystic fibrosis group partners with Moderna founder to find better, potentially curative treatments
With an initial investment of $20 million, the collaboration will use technologies from various Flagship-backed companies to discover and develop new therapies for the disease.
By Jacob Bell • Nov. 3, 2021 -
Courtesy of Intellia Therapeutics
Intellia looks to eye diseases in latest deal
The gene editing company will take a 10% stake in SparingVision, a young biotech that will use Intellia's CRISPR technology to develop treatments for up to three ocular targets.
By Jacob Bell • Oct. 13, 2021 -
Getty Images
Takeda takes aim at a biotech's gene therapy work
For an upfront payment of $45 million, Takeda gains access to as many as eight programs from Poseida Therapeutics and a potential method of delivering gene therapies without the help of viruses.
By Jacob Bell • Oct. 12, 2021 -
Elizabeth Regan / Industry Dive
Adamas, Flexion sell for $825M combined as biotech's dealmaking pace picks up
After lagging for months, M&A has accelerated over the past five weeks. The latest evidence comes from two deals based largely on future drug sales.
By Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 11, 2021 -
Getty
Otsuka partners with Sunovion, Sumitomo in neurology drug pact
Sunovion will receive $270 million from Otsuka, and as much as $620 million more, in exchange for splitting rights to four experimental psychiatric drugs.
By Kristin Jensen • Sept. 30, 2021 -
Getty Images
Acceleron provides biggest biopharma deal this year, with $11.5B sale to Merck
The acquisition is notable for Merck, which is under pressure to diversify its business beyond the cancer drug Keytruda and has typically favored smaller buyouts of earlier-stage companies.
By Jacob Bell • Updated Sept. 30, 2021 -
Getty / Edited by BioPharma Dive
Amicus, looking for a boost, sells its gene therapy work to a SPAC
The value of the biotech's growing gene therapy portfolio has been "unrecognized" by investors, said CEO John Crowley, leading to a sudden shift for an initiative that began just three years ago.
By Ben Fidler • Sept. 29, 2021 -
Christopher Furlong via Getty Images
AstraZeneca to buy rare disease drugmaker Caelum in small deal
The British pharma inherited an option to acquire Caelum Biosciences when it bought Alexion last year. Caelum could receive as much as $500 million as a result of the planned buyout.
By Kristin Jensen • Sept. 29, 2021 -
AbbVie
AbbVie bets big on a gene therapy for eye diseases
The company has agreed to pay $370 million, and possibly north of $1 billion more, to gain access to a Regenxbio treatment targeting wet AMD and other eye conditions.
By Jacob Bell • Sept. 13, 2021 -
Courtesy of Sanofi
Sanofi to buy Kadmon for $1.9B, extending deal streak
The acquisition took some analysts by surprise as Sanofi has recently targeted specialty drugs, not general medicines like Kadmon's transplant treatment.
By Ben Fidler • Sept. 8, 2021 -
Roche
Roche bets big on off-the-shelf cancer cell therapy with Adaptimmune deal
Long a bystander in the race to develop so-called allogeneic treatments, the cancer drugmaking giant has joined the fray with a wide-ranging alliance that could be worth up to $3 billion.
By Jonathan Gardner • Sept. 7, 2021 -
Lilly puts more money into protein degradation
The pharma has struck its second research pact focused on drugs that break down harmful proteins in as many years, this time with California biotech Lycia Therapeutics.
By Jacob Bell • Aug. 25, 2021 -
Jeenah Moon via Getty Images
Pfizer stocks cancer drug pipeline with $2.3B deal for Trillium
The acquisition reflects growing industry interest in the cancer-linked protein targeted by Trillium's drugs, most notably shown by Gilead's acquisition of Forty Seven last year.
By Ned Pagliarulo • Aug. 23, 2021 -
Illumina closes Grail takeover despite pending FTC trial
The testing giant's decision to move ahead without sign-off from U.S. regulators and an EU investigation ongoing is a "maverick move," said Evercore analysts, as there's a chance Illumina may have to unwind the takeover.
By Nick Paul Taylor • Aug. 19, 2021
