Entering 2025, biopharma industry observers expected an uptick of merger-and-acquisition activity, coming off a 2024 that saw some historic lows for such activity. Hopes were raised with some sizeable transactions during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in early January.
Industry firms made 10 acquisitions by the time the J.P. Morgan meeting ended, including Johnson & Johnson’s $14.6bn bid for Intra-Cellular Therapies, a deal that tripled the value of 2024’s largest, the $4.9bn Vertex buyout of Alpine Immune.
However, only two other M&A deals with disclosed value of $1bn or more had been announced by mid-January and the biopharma sector appeared stuck in the same holding pattern that took set in during 2024, despite resolution of the 2024 US presidential election and so-far unrealized expectations for relaxed deal scrutiny from the US Federal Trade Commission. To the contrary, the FTC stated on 18 February that it would keep in place the Biden administration’s practices for reviewing M&A transactions for the immediate future.
As Q1 2025 neared its end, Scrip’s Joseph Haas discussed M&A activity so far this year with a pair of Hogan Lovells attorneys focused on life sciences deal making, partners Jessica Bisignano and Gabrielle Witt. On the latest edition of the Scrip M&A Podcast, they talked about whether the J&J/Intra-Cellular deal meant bigger deals were imminent, why the FTC might have chosen to retain the previous administration’s oversight practices and what to expect in terms of biopharma M&A for the rest of 2025.
