Total biopharma financings reached $25.14 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, nearly doubling the $13.12 billion in the Q1 2025. The early 2026 total comes in above the $13.19 billion recorded in 2023 and $13.66 billion in 2022, though it remains below the $38.27 billion during the same period in 2021 and $47.25 billion in 2024.
Do state laws requiring drug companies to give steep 340B drug discounts to an unlimited number of contract pharmacies, with no claims data required, interfere with a longstanding contract between the U.S. Congress and biopharma? Or do such laws merely flex states’ authority over pharmacy practices such as delivery?
After nearly a year of threats and promises of a global biopharma tariff of 25% to 500%, U.S. President Donald Trump finally delivered it. In the name of national security, he imposed a 100% sector tariff on prescription drugs and their associated ingredients beginning in about four months for large manufacturers and six months for smaller companies. However, depending on the drug, where it’s made and whether a manufacturer has reached onshoring and pricing agreements with the Department of Health and Human Services, the actual tariff could be as low as 0%.
Med-tech deal value, excluding M&As, totaled $628.41 million in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026, an increase of about 322% from the $149.08 million recorded in Q1 2025 though a 36% drop from Q4 2025‘s $978.58 million.
Phase II data disclosed March 31 by Pepgen Inc. in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) hobbled the stock but might have been much different if not for one outlier in the 5-mg/kg multiple ascending dose cohort of the ongoing phase II Freedom2-DM1 trial – and Wall Street is pondering what the hitch means for the Boston-based firm as well as the competitive space.