After years of cautious restraint, the pharmaceutical deal machine is running at full throttle. With 2025 delivering a record approximately $240 billion in global deal value, and biopharma M&A alone more than doubling to $116.3 billion from $51.6 billion the prior year, the industry has shifted decisively into acquisition mode. Market watchers and dealmakers alike expected a cooldown — instead, they got a sustained surge that shows no sign of slowing in 2026.
The opening quarter delivered numbers that would have seemed implausible just a year ago. In the final 12 days of March alone, biopharma companies announced seven transactions exceeding $1 billion each, collectively worth $29 billion in headline value. That furious burst confirmed what analysts had been suspecting: the M&A spike in late 2025 was not an anomaly but the start of a structural shift in how the industry’s largest players pursue growth.
Four Deals, Four Billion-Plus Price Tags
The scale of Q1 activity was staggering. Jefferies tracked 14 deals of at least $500 million in the first quarter alone — nearly half the full-year total of 32 in 2025. At the prevailing pace, the full-year value of such deals could reach $172 billion, compared with $111 billion in 2025.
Leading the charge were three headline-grabbing acquisitions, each crossing the $5 billion threshold:
- Merck acquired Terns Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 billion, securing TERN-701, an oral leukemia candidate that fits neatly into Merck’s hematology strategy as it charts a post-Keytruda future.
- Eli Lilly agreed to buy Centessa Pharmaceuticals for $6.3 billion upfront, plus additional contingent value rights, for a portfolio of sleep disorder treatments.
- Biogen struck a $5.6 billion deal for Apellis Pharmaceuticals, gaining control of Syfovre and Empaveli, two approved drugs targeting geographic atrophy.
Notably, Eli Lilly made two separate buyouts within the first six weeks of the year — Ventyx Biosciences for $1.2 billion and Orna Therapeutics for up to $2.4 billion — underscoring how aggressively the Indianapolis-based giant is moving to reinforce its pipeline.
Not Just the Usual Suspects
The deal frenzy extended well beyond the marquee names. Novartis announced two separate acquisitions in late March: a $2 billion upfront deal for Pikavation Therapeutics and its breast cancer asset portfolio, followed by a headline $2 billion acquisition of Excellergy and its allergy candidate. Gilead Sciences bought Ouro Medicines for $2.2 billion, gaining autoimmune asset gamgertamig. Otsuka acquired Transcend Therapeutics for $1.2 billion, picking up TSND-201, a potential treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Why Now? The Drivers Behind the Deal Boom
Several converging factors explain the acceleration. Chief among them is the patent cliff facing several blockbuster drugs. Merck, which faces loss of exclusivity for Keytruda — the world’s top-selling cancer drug — by the end of the decade, has been one of the most aggressive acquirers, completing three deals of at least $6 billion each over the past 10 months. The imperative to replace revenue from soon-to-expire franchises is pushing large-cap companies to pay premium prices for promising late-stage assets.
Capital availability has also improved markedly. After the funding drought that gripped the sector in 2022–2023, biotech companies that survived now have cleaner balance sheets and more mature pipelines. Meanwhile, the IPO market has re-opened, and strong post-IPO performance is giving venture investors confidence to back earlier-stage companies — creating a healthier ecosystem of acquisition targets.
Mike Patrone, a partner at DLA Piper specializing in biopharma M&A, described December as “one of the busiest months I’ve ever had,” with deal flow accelerating sharply after the U.S. government reopened following a shutdown.
“We think biotech momentum can continue throughout 2026,” Jefferies analysts wrote. “In theory, more large M&A activity could allow investors to put more money to work, driving secondary and IPO offerings higher.”
Therapeutic Focus: Cardiometabolic, CNS, Oncology, Immunology
As always, therapeutic focus is shaping deal geography. Interest remains concentrated in cardiometabolic diseases, central nervous system disorders, oncology, and immunology — areas with large patient populations, high unmet need, and strong commercial potential.
J.P. Morgan’s Q1 2026 report showed biopharma venture funding totaled $5.2 billion in the quarter, while biopharma licensing reached $77.3 billion in announced value — with upfront cash representing just 6% of total deal value, underscoring the creative financing structures pharma is using to secure assets.
Looking Ahead: A New Normal?
If the first quarter is any indication, 2026 is shaping up to be a landmark year for pharma M&A. Analysts predict 20 or more acquisitions exceeding $1 billion, with at least two or three potential mega-deals of $10 billion or more. The combination of expiring patents, available capital, recovering IPO markets, and a rich pipeline of science has created the ideal environment for dealmaking. For quality assets and the large pharma teams tasked with keeping pipelines full, the window is open — and it may not stay that way forever.
原文：https://www.biopharmadive.com/news/biotech-pharma-deals-merger-acquisitions-tracker/604262/
Published at: May 4, 2026 · Modified at: May 4, 2026
