Artificial intelligence (AI) technology developer Genesis Therapeutics Inc. has brought in another larger partner to go on a search for the right therapeutic small molecules. The company is getting an up-front $30 million payment from Incyte Corp. and could bring in as much as $295 million per target in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, bringing the deal to about $620 million total.

Biopharma deal activity in the first month of the year saw the largest January raise thus far, with $28.63 billion in collective funds. While down slightly month over month, the value was comparable to December 2024’s $29.02 billion and November 2024’s $29.34 billion.

Ligachem Biosciences Inc. landed another exclusive licensing deal to develop and commercialize antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), this time with T-cell receptor therapy specialist Daan Biotherapeutics Inc. for a cancer-targeting antibody.

Dealmaking in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region took off this week, with the latest showcasing Genome & Co.’s licensing deal with Ellipses Pharma Ltd. for GENA-104, a phase I-ready immuno-oncology asset, under undisclosed terms Feb. 11.

Novartis AG is paying nearly $1 billion up front to buy privately held Anthos Therapeutics Inc. in a deal that eventually could top out around $3.1 billion. Novartis, coming back to where it started as it and Blackstone Life Sciences founded Anthos in 2019, is entering a crowded space.

Olix Pharmaceuticals Inc. walked the talk in realizing a new $630 million licensing deal with Eli Lilly and Co. for its cardiovascular and metabolic disease asset, OLX-702A (OLX-75016), rallying stock by 30% after it had largely recovered from a terminated deal with France’s Théa Open Innovation last year.

In a deal that Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Eric Schmidt characterized as “capital recycling at its best,” Alumis Inc. and Acelyrin Inc. are merging in an all-stock transaction. The combined pipelines include Alumis’ most advanced prospect, ESK-001, an oral, next-generation, allosteric inhibitor of tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2). ESK-001 is undergoing the phase III Onward study for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis as well as the phase II Lumus bid in systemic lupus erythematosus.

BioWorld’s three-part analysis of M&As sought to discover successful transactions and to understand the trend of multibillion-dollar deals that have become commonplace in the last decade. Instead, more than 80% of the acquisitions explored simply indicate that buyers are paying too much, suggesting that transactions meant to restore pipelines and revenues with innovative and marketed products are sometimes akin to high-stakes gambling. In part three, the final part of this series, we examine four more disappointments in which the return on investment (ROI) remains well behind the price paid in acquiring the company.

Chinese biotechs are increasingly seeking deals with multinational companies, and those deal structures are getting more creative. The “newco” deal structure is getting a lot of attention, but the barrier for entry is quite high for this type of deal, Morrison Foerster Shanghai Managing Partner Chuan Sun told BioWorld.