Biopharma deal value through the first five months of 2026 reached $135.36 billion, outpacing every prior year and topping 2025’s previous high of $103.92 billion. May was the year’s biggest month so far at $41.78 billion in transactions, making it one of the strongest individual months on record, and far outpacing April’s $13.87 billion.

Fresh off a deal with Travere Therapeutics Inc. for civorebrutinib worth more than $1.14 billion, Everest Medicines Ltd. went on a shopping spree, striking three deals in six days to expand its pipeline and geographic reach across Asia Pacific.

Biopharma deal value through the first five months of 2026 reached $135.36 billion, outpacing every prior year and topping 2025’s previous high of $103.92 billion. May was the year’s biggest month so far at $41.78 billion in transactions, making it one of the strongest individual months on record, and far outpacing April’s $13.87 billion. May 2026 comes in third in recent years in terms of deal value, after October 2023’s $44.91 billion and December 2022’s $42.45 billion.

The biotech industry delivered another year of strong headline performance in 2025, yet beneath the surface, a growing divide between the industry’s haves and have-nots is reshaping every dimension of how companies raise money, build pipelines and navigate an increasingly volatile policy environment. That is the message of the EY Biotech Beyond Borders Report 2026, an annual industry analysis produced by EY Insights that framed the sector’s defining challenge in a single question: “How can biopharma keep its balance?”

Laekna Inc. is handing ex-China rights to internally discovered PI3Kα pan-mutant selective inhibitor LAE-118 to U.S.-based Vasque Bio Inc. in a deal worth up to $527 million, marking another asset-monetization move by the Shanghai company as it looks to fund and accelerate development across its oncology and metabolic disease pipeline.

Two companies with European ties signed billion-dollar deals with large pharma firms in the last two days to discover and develop molecular glue drugs, as well as to advance a preclinical Alzheimer’s disease prospect. For both companies, the up-front payments are relatively small, only $10 million for Alzecure Pharma AB, and just $40 million for Orionis Biosciences Inc. But it’s the back-end milestone amounts that are headline-grabbing.

Fresh off a deal with Travere Therapeutics Inc. for civorebrutinib worth more than $1.14 billion, Everest Medicines Ltd. went on a shopping spree, striking three deals in six days to expand its pipeline and geographic reach across Asia Pacific.

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.

Ahead of an approval bid with its own candidate in non-small-cell lung cancer, GSK plc is planting a stake in the space by way of the $10.6 billion buyout of Nuvalent Inc. for $124 per share, a 40% premium to Nuvalent’s last closing price and a 26% premium to the 30-calendar day amount. Net of cash acquired, GSK’s investment will total about $9.4 billion.

Extracellular matrix specialist Engitix Ltd. is teaming up with GSK plc to delve into the mechanisms underlying regression of fibrosis after treatment for chronic liver disease, and identify and validate new drug targets involved in this process.