Sotyktu (deucravacitinib), the tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor for psoriasis from Bristol Myers Squibb Co., is “a good first-in-class” drug, said Nimbus Therapeutics LLC CEO Jeb Keiper, but his firm may have the best in class, ready for phase III trials. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. apparently believes so. The company has agreed to pay $4 billion up front and pledge as much as $2 billion more in potential milestone payments to acquire Nimbus’s wholly owned subsidiary, Nimbus Lakshmi Inc., thereby bringing aboard the TYK2 prospect called NDI-034858.

Less than a month from its launch as a stand-alone business on Jan. 4, 2023, GE Healthcare Holding LLC provided a glimpse of its future plans for growth and anticipated financials for investors. The soon-to-be-launched company is hardly waiting until its spinoff to look for tuck-in acquisitions to boost sales and profitability and add new capabilities for customers and patients.

Boston Scientific Corp. offered $523 million in cash for 65% of Acotec Scientific Holdings Ltd., a manufacturer of vascular intervention devices. The acquisition would significantly expand Boston Scientific’s presence in China, which the company expects to account for about 25% of the global med-tech market by the end of the decade. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, subject to shareholder approval. The offer price of HK$20 or US$2.57 per share represents a premium of more than 31% over its close on Friday, Acotec reported.

The successful suitor for Horizon Therapeutics plc has been revealed as Amgen Inc., which will buy the Dublin-based company for $27.8 billion in cash in what is by far the year’s biggest acquisition. The deal brings successful biologics into Amgen’s portfolio that include Tepezza (teprotumumab), a monoclonal antibody targeting insulin-like growth factor 1 for treating thyroid eye disease, Krystexxa (pegloticase), a pegylated uricase enzyme for treating chronic refractory gout, and Uplizna (inebilizumab), a monoclonal antibody targeting insulin-like growth factor 1 for treating thyroid eye disease.

Arcellx Inc. signed a deal that could be worth almost $4 billion with Gilead Sciences Inc.’s unit Kite Pharma Inc. to push forward Arcellx's lead late-stage candidate CART-ddBCMA for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The arrangement brings $225 million up front plus an equity investment of $100 million, along with as much as $3.9 billion in milestone payments. Arcellx CEO Rami Elghandour said the firm sorted through a number of suitors interested in the program. Data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting “catalyzed a number of discussions and a broad set of interests. We felt of the possibilities out there, [Kite/Gilead is] the partner of choice in this space.”

Full-Life Technologies Ltd. reported that it will acquire Focus-X Therapeutics Inc. to expand its radiopharmaceutical oncology therapy pipeline in a deal worth up to $245 million.

In a move that put Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc. on a path to walk over other firms developing exoskeletons, the company acquired the Human Motion and Control (HMC) business unit from Parker Hannifin Corp. The deal expands Ekso’s lower-limb exoskeleton line to include the Indego Personal and Indego Therapy devices, which like its own exoskeleton platform, help patients recovering from stroke or spinal cord injuries walk again. The transaction also includes the development of related robotic-assisted orthotic and prosthetic devices.