Astrazeneca plc is investing $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand R&D and manufacturing, marking one of the largest long-term investments by a multinational pharma company in the country. The U.K.-based company also struck a deal worth up to $3.5 billion with China’s CSPC Pharmaceuticals Group Ltd. to accelerate the development of next-generation therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
In its fourth major biopharma deal since its 2019 founding, Repertoire Immune Medicines signed a partnership with Eli Lilly and Co. to develop tolerizing therapies for several autoimmune diseases, gaining an up-front payment of $85 million, with a potential $1.84 billion in development and commercial milestone payments coming later, along with tiered royalties.
Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH signed a €1.058 billion (US$1.26 billion) deal with Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. to license select rights to SIM-0709, a preclinical TL1A/IL-23p19-directed bispecific antibody targeting inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Seamless Therapeutics has received big pharma endorsement of its proprietary recombinase gene editing platform, sealing a potential $1.12 billion deal with Eli Lilly and Co. to apply the technology in hearing loss.
Full-year biopharma deal value in 2025 reached $292.55 billion, the highest annual total in BioWorld’s records, following $78.93 billion in the fourth quarter (Q4). The annual total is a 27% increase from the $230.53 billion recorded in 2024.
After a “brutal” year, there is reason for optimism, with the fourth quarter seeing an upswing in deal numbers and the amount raised, according to the UK Bioindustry Association’s final tally of biotech financing in 2025.
Despite pressure on drug pricing, an ongoing threat of tariffs and rising geopolitical tension, the outlook for dealmaking in 2026 is strong. Balanced against the fog of uncertainty, which the industry is navigating, is the stark reality of the coming patent cliff and the fact that the big pharma companies have access to $1.619 trillion with which to replenish their pipelines.
Shionogi & Co. Ltd. and Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd. were involved in separate divestment transactions this week, with Shionogi buying out Pfizer Inc.’s stake in Viiv Healthcare Ltd. to lift its holding to 21.7%.
On the heels of more positive early data from the lead program derived from its tumor-activated T-cell engager (TRACTr) platform, Janux Therapeutics Inc. inked a collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb Co. that comes with $50 million in up-front and near-term milestone payments, with the possibility of up to $800 million more tied to development, regulatory and commercial milestones.
Astrazeneca plc is paying up to $630 million to acquire China rights to Abelzeta's Pharma Inc.’s C-CAR031 (AZD5851), an autologous glypican 3-targeting CAR T, securing global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the CAR T for liver cancer.
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