Start-Ups & SMEs
The Belgian biotech is closing its CAR-T division and pivoting to a new de-risked business development model, with the blessing of long-term investor, Gilead.
Fund IV exclusively targets company creation and early-stage investing across the UK and the US.
Companies requiring follow-on financing were particularly hit in 2025, but the first signs of ‘pension power’ has given the UK sector hope of more investment.
Private Company Edition: Twenty eight biopharma firms announced $2.11bn in new VC funding between Jan. 8 and 22 on top of $1.36bn in pre-J.P. Morgan disclosures on Jan. 7 and 8. Corxel led the recent financings with a $287m series D1 round to advance its oral GLP-1 agonist.
The US biotech has upsized its public offering to $175m after the success of soquelitinib in a very early trial for atopic dermatitis.
Execs at Biotech Showcase debated business models and platform monetization strategies for AI drug discovery companies, with some arguing they should develop internal pipelines and others advocating for partnership models.
While the biotech sector is optimistic once more, the annual conference did not bring a bounce to many companies.
The Niemann-Pick disease type C drug is off to a good start in the US but Europe may be even more lucrative, CEO Neil McFarlane tells attendees at the J.P. Morgan meeting.
Europe produces world-class science, but lags behind other regions in translating discoveries into groundbreaking innovations that create jobs and drive economic growth. A new fund from the owners of Novo Nordisk hopes to change that.
Upcoming product launches from partnerships with J&J and Takeda could generate billions in royalties for the biotech, which now aims to build an in-house portfolio of next-generation oral obesity drugs and I&I therapies.
The company’s debut reinforces a trend for US biotechs being launched based on China-developed assets.
The Swiss biotech’s shares jumped by 27% after the US agency said another trial was not needed to submit sonelokimab.
Private Company Edition: Parabilis brought in $305m, Soley raised $200m, Alveus secured $159.8m, Diagonal accessed $125m, EpiBiologics raised $107m and Rakuten garnered $100m, plus other venture capital announcements ahead of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.
The acquisition signals growing belief in the NLRP3 inhibitor class, where companies are increasingly pursuing cardiometabolic and obesity studies alongside neurodegenerative trials.
Drug developers raised $8.04bn in venture capital during the fourth quarter, the largest quarterly total in 2025, but the full-year total of $25.23bn was below the $28.04bn raised in 2024.
Investor enthusiasm for exciting data in 2025 transformed the prospects of a few companies in a single day’s trading – but that enthusiasm sometimes disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived.
The recent Evaluate Financing Forum saw three high-calibre panellists give real-world insight into the best ways to secure the best partnerships.
AI-guided drug developer Insilico raised HKD2.28bn ($292.2m) when on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Also, Collegium closed a $980m credit facility and in private company financings Syremis, Atavistik and Syneron raised $100m or more in year-end venture capital deals.
Terns and Relmada were two small cap companies which pulled off perfect pivots in 2025, ditching failed assets to finding success in a new therapy area. However, many other small firms struggled to stay afloat, with ‘zombie killer’ firms emerging to finish them off.
The firm founded by Treg cell discoverer Shimon Sakaguchi is building up its US team and refining R&D strategy and manufacturing processes to create an example and global path for other Japanese ventures.