Harbour Biomed has added another collaboration to its end-of-year dealmaking, this time with Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) to develop multispecific antibodies. Harbour is getting about $90 million up front, but milestones could eventually top $1 billion.
Medline Inc. returned to the public markets with a blockbuster IPO of $6.26 billion, reportedly this year’s largest IPO globally. The upsized offering of more than 216 million shares at $29 per share will allow the medical supply giant to devote the entirety of the proceeds from its initially proposed 179 million shares toward repayment of debt.
Acryl Inc. debuted on South Korea’s Kosdaq Dec. 16, raising ₩42.12 billion ($28.5 million) in an IPO. Shares (KOSDAQ:0007C0) closed at ₩67,000 on the first day, up 243.5% from its offering price, before closing 30% down on Dec. 17 at ₩47,500. Seoul, South Korea-based Acryl sold 2.16 million shares priced at ₩19,500 each. Notably, Acryl won South Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approval of Acryl-D01 software in December 2024, making it the country’s first AI-based digital therapeutic solution for depression screening and diagnosis. The generative AI-based medical software is cleared to analyze patient interviews and medical records and provide a probability score for clinical depression.
Things once done in laboratories can now be done with computers and AI, said Kim Woo-youn, CEO and cofounder of Hits Inc. “We live in the age of ‘digital alchemy,’” Kim told BioWorld, describing how AI is shifting some drug discovery processes from physical to virtual spaces.
Nchroma Bio Inc. has received a certificate for clinical trial in Hong Kong to initiate a first-in-human phase I/II trial of CRMA-1001 for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Dosing is expected to begin early next year.
Things once done in laboratories can now be done with computers and AI, said Kim Woo-youn, CEO and cofounder of Hits Inc. “We live in the age of ‘digital alchemy,’” Kim told BioWorld, describing how AI is shifting some drug discovery processes from physical to virtual spaces.
ADEL Inc. closed a year-end licensing deal worth up to $1.04 billion with Sanofi SA for ADEL-Y01, a specific tau-targeting Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate in a U.S. phase I study.
Two large deals and an acquisition, totaling about $4.64 billion in all, are helping wrap up what’s turning out to be a strong year. Through the first 11 months of 2025, biopharma dealmaking was robust with a collective value of $261.14 billion, the highest January through November total of the past seven years and well above 2024’s $201.35 billion. These three December deals helped revive the surge in dealmaking that had cooled in November.
Radiopharm Theranostics Ltd.’s radiotracer RAD-101 met the primary endpoint in 92% of patients in the phase IIb imaging trial in brain metastases, according to interim results. To date, 11 of the 12 patients treated with RAD-101 (F18-Pivalate) achieved concordance with MRI (the primary endpoint) as assessed by PET imaging of brain metastases. The results showed significant and selective tumor uptake, and images confirm metabolic activity in brain metastases compared to equivocal MRI findings.
Experience gained in the Asia-Pacific region is helping shape the Menarini Group’s global strategy as the Italian pharmaceutical company looks to emerging markets to drive long-term, sustainable growth.