Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s potential $665 million deal for Oscotec Inc.’s cevidoplenib, a phase III-ready oral SYK inhibitor to treat immune thrombocytopenia, marks a new chapter of development focused on cancer therapy resistance for Oscotec, CEO Yoon Tae-young said.

Cytomx Therapeutics Inc. and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., which inked a bispecifics-focused collaboration worth up to $2 billion in 2022, agreed to broaden their efforts in an expanded deal that provides Cytomx with additional funding up front as it advances its promising colorectal cancer candidate, varsetatug masetecan (Varseta-M), and fills the gap left by the recently terminated agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc.

Once again, Eli Lilly and Co. has signed a billion-dollar deal, this time with Boston-based Ascidian Therapeutics Inc., a company that is barely four years old and one that is focused on treating human diseases by rewriting RNA. “Our technology, we call it RNA exon editing,” said Ascidian Chief Scientific Officer Robert Bell. “It edits RNA, not DNA … but it does so at the kilobase scale.”

On the heels of the multibillion-dollar licensing deal between Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI), of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging him to add biotechnology as a prohibited technology under the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act of 2025.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. secured a $1.26 billion deal with Eli Lilly and Co. to out-license ex-Korea rights to sonefpeglutide (HM-15912), a Lapscovery-based glucagon-like peptide-2 analog in development for multiple indications, including an ongoing phase II study of short bowel syndrome. It was one of two billion-dollar Asian company deals signed by Lilly on June 1, with the second transaction involving Haisco Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd., of Beijing.

Pfizer Inc. is paying Innovent Biologics Co. Ltd. $650 million up front and up to $9.85 billion in milestones, plus royalties, to collaborate across 12 early stage and de novo antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and multispecific antibodies for oncology.

In 2025, China’s outbound life sciences and biopharma deals reached nearly $100 billion, about 12 times the level seen in 2021, underscoring how quickly global appetite for Chinese assets has accelerated, according to a recent report by L.E.K. Consulting.

Less than two months after winning FDA approval for a second indication for Filspari (sparsentan), Travere Therapeutics Inc. added to its rare kidney disease pipeline by exclusively licensing civorebrutinib from Everest Medicines Ltd. in a deal that could be worth more than $1.14 billion.

Edgewise Therapeutics Inc. is pulling in $1.55 billion up front by selling its muscular dystrophy business, including its fast skeletal myosin inhibitor, sevasemten (EDG-5506), to Servier SA. The deal is potentially worth up to $2.65 billion when including a potential $1.1 billion in milestone payments.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. secured a $1.26 billion deal with Eli Lilly and Co. to out-license ex-Korea rights to sonefpeglutide (HM-15912), a Lapscovery-based glucagon-like peptide-2 analog in development for multiple indications, including an ongoing phase II study of short bowel syndrome. It was one of two billion-dollar Asian company deals signed by Lilly on June 1, with the second transaction involving Haisco Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd., of Beijing.