With no public market to provide competition, the theory among biotech's optimists was that Big Pharma would step in and buy lots of bargains. But cheap prices and easy availability haven't increased drug company appetites: They will only buy what they really want. Deal volumes, both for M&A and alliances, are falling, while Big Pharma has learned to put more of the risk back on biotech. What will change this dynamic, putting more bargaining into biotech hands, is the revival of the public market - and there are hints that such a revival may be on the way.
By Roger Longman and Christopher Morrison
Through much of 2008, a dispassionate observer could not have been sanguine about the prospects for Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc....
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During Q2, biopharma merger and acquisition deal value reached $24.6bn and drew in $60.7bn in potential deal value from alliances. Device company M&A values reached $223m, while in vitro diagnostics and research tools players’ M&A activity totaled $802m.
Pharma leaders are shifting from AI pilots to enterprise-scale deployment, favoring external partnerships for efficiency gains while maintaining tight control over sensitive clinical data.
The biotech funding landscape is undergoing a fundamental shift. With traditional VC becoming increasingly cautious and selective, industry executives are exploring new avenues for capital. Conversely, this evolution may ultimately benefit the sector's long-term sustainability.
In Vivo spoke with Edward Ahn, CEO of Medipost, a Korean company that has developed stem cell therapies from cord blood, on how they are working across regulatory markets to provide a novel treatment for degenerative diseases.
During Q2, biopharma merger and acquisition deal value reached $24.6bn and drew in $60.7bn in potential deal value from alliances. Device company M&A values reached $223m, while in vitro diagnostics and research tools players’ M&A activity totaled $802m.
Facing rising costs and tighter regulations, PBMs and insurers are accelerating the shift to value-based drug coverage, demanding stronger proof of therapeutic and economic benefit from pharma.
Akelos is developing a first-in-class, non-addictive HCN1 inhibitor for peripheral neuropathic pain, based on anesthesiology research from Weill Cornell. The compound is designed to avoid the brain and heart, and has shown strong preclinical efficacy and safety with NIH backed development underway.
