GSK, Anaptysbio sue each other over Jemperli revenue

As Anaptysbio seeks to split off a royalty business, both companies claim the other breached contracts surrounding development of the cancer immunotherapy.

By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 21, 2025

Abbott to acquire Exact Sciences for about $21B

The purchase would give Abbott access to cancer screening tests including Cologuard and blood tests for multi-cancer early detection.

By Elise Reuter , Susan Kelly • Nov. 20, 2025

J&J adds to pharma’s M&A spree with $3B buyout of startup Halda

The deal gives J&J access to a pipeline of drugs designed to “hold and kill” tumors, led by a prostate cancer medicine that’s shown promise in early-stage testing. 

By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 17, 2025

To Wall Street, a new bidding war puts Alkermes in a tough spot

Now in a tug of war with Lundbeck, Alkermes could either lose out on a marketed sleepiness drug or end up paying significantly more than it had hoped.

By Jacob Bell • Nov. 14, 2025

Merck stakes $9.2B on Cidara and its long-acting flu drug

The deal, one of two multibillion-dollar buyouts from Merck this year, centers around a drug that could become an alternative to vaccines for flu prevention.

By Ben Fidler • Nov. 14, 2025

Day One snaps up ADC maker Mersana in backloaded buyout deal

After multiple clinical setbacks and layoff rounds, Mersana accepted an offer in which the bulk of the payouts will only materialize if its main cancer drug hits a variety of milestones.

By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 13, 2025

Pfizer wins bidding war for Metsera with $10B offer

The new proposal for the coveted obesity drug developer is more than double the size of Pfizer’s original bid and ends a squabble with Novo Nordisk that had resulted in lawsuits.

By Ben Fidler • Nov. 8, 2025

FTC signals scrutiny of Novo’s bid for Metsera

Without taking a firm position, the antitrust agency said Novo’s two-step deal structure may illegally sidestep requirements for a premerger review. 

By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 5, 2025

Blackstone pays Merck $700M to buy into ADC drug royalties

The deal hands Blackstone a piece of the potential future sales of an antibody-drug conjugate that could soon challenge marketed medicines from AstraZeneca and Gilead.

By Delilah Alvarado • Nov. 4, 2025

Metsera again chooses Novo as bidding war with Pfizer intensifies

The obesity drug developer has declared a new proposal from Novo “superior” to Pfizer’s original bid as well as an updated offer revealed Tuesday.

By Jonathan Gardner • Nov. 4, 2025

Roche taps an AI specialist to craft new brain drugs

For $55 million, Roche gains access to Manifold Bio’s drug discovery technology, which will be used to develop new “shuttles” that can get medicines across the blood-brain barrier.

By Jacob Bell • Nov. 3, 2025

Pfizer sues Metsera, Novo in effort to enforce buyout deal

The lawsuit escalates an unusual, high-profile battle between two large pharmaceutical companies over ownership of a coveted developer of obesity drugs.

By Ben Fidler • Updated Nov. 3, 2025

Novo tops Pfizer with $6.5B bid for Metsera

The offer sparked a bidding war between the two large pharmas over the obesity drug specialist, with Pfizer alleging Novo’s offer is “illusory” and “structured in a way to circumvent antitrust laws.”

By Jonathan Gardner • Updated Oct. 30, 2025

Novartis’ $12B Avidity deal shows a willingness to take big swings in neuroscience

A 46% premium paid for RNA candidates reflects what the pharma giant has sought to do for the last few years: aim at technology that fits into its own expertise.

By Michael Gibney • Oct. 28, 2025

Novartis to acquire Avidity in $12B bet on RNA drugs for neuromuscular disease

The deal, which Novartis expects can “unlock multibillion-dollar opportunities” in the years ahead, hands the company a group of medicines for multiple forms of muscular dystrophy.

By Ben Fidler • Oct. 26, 2025

Biogen licenses a possible immune drug from OrbiMed-backed biotech

The preclinical drug from Vanqua Bio is designed to inhibit “C5aR1,” a part of the immune system that regulates inflammation.

By Jacob Bell • Oct. 24, 2025

Adverum, hammered by gene therapy downturn, sells to Lilly in unusual deal

Lilly’s upfront offer for Adverum, the developer of a gene therapy for age-related macular degeneration, is less than the company’s previous closing share price.

By Jacob Bell • Oct. 24, 2025

Alkermes expands sleep portfolio with acquisition worth up to $2.1B

Analysts called the proposed purchase of Avadel Pharmaceuticals a “clear” strategic fit for Alkermes, handing it an already marketed product for excessive daytime sleepiness.

By Jacob Bell • Oct. 22, 2025

Takeda stakes more than $11B on cancer drugs from China

The Japanese pharma is licensing up to three next-generation cancer drugs from Innovent Biologics in a deal it believes to be “transformative” for its oncology portfolio.

By Ben Fidler • Oct. 22, 2025

Iambic partners with Jazz; Merck breaks ground on $3B plant

The biotechs will assess a combination of two drugs against HER2-positive breast cancer. Elsewhere, Merck unveiled the latest piece of its more than $70 billion domestic manufacturing investment.

By BioPharma Dive staff • Oct. 21, 2025

Novo wagers up to $2.1B on Omeros’ rare disease drug

The deal gives Novo rights to a drug it sees as having "multiple advantages" over other treatments for so-called complement-mediated diseases.

By Delilah Alvarado • Oct. 15, 2025

Kailera nets $600M more to advance Zepbound-like obesity drug

Among the largest private biotech funding rounds this year, the financing will support global trials of an obesity shot that just succeeded in late-stage testing in China.

By Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 14, 2025

BioCryst goes ‘all in’ on rare swelling disease with Astria deal

A deal valuing the Boston biotech’s stock at $700 million hands BioCryst a long-acting injectable for hereditary angioedema that complements its daily pill.

By Delilah Alvarado • Oct. 14, 2025

Bristol’s $1.5B Orbital buyout extends ‘in vivo’ cell therapy deal streak

The acquisition of the well-funded startup is the fourth this year involving companies with technologies that can genetically modify immune cells inside the body. 

By Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 10, 2025

Novo joins MASH dealmaking surge with $4.7B Akero buyout

The deal is the third acquisition since May involving a drug that could reverse liver scarring in people with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. 

By Jonathan Gardner • Oct. 9, 2025