There have been plenty of multi-billion-dollar mega mergers in the past few years but most have fallen short of their goals. In the latest edition of the BioWorld Insider podcast, Karen Carey, BioWorld’s senior managing editor and chief analyst, unpacked the details in 21 of the biggest M&As and found very few have turned out to be good deals for the buyer.

The BioWorld Neurological Diseases Index closed 2024 down 20.27%, extending its decline from -13.4% at the end of November. After falling to -12.2% in April, the index briefly rebounded, narrowing losses to under 4% by June, before experiencing a sharp downturn in the second half of the year.

The disclosure of a new candidate by Dewpoint Therapeutics Inc. was the latest in the percolating beta-catenin/Wnt space, where a handful of firms have been making progress.

Biopharma companies raised $2.98 billion through 59 transactions in February 2025, down from $5.91 billion across 93 deals in January. The year is off to a slower start compared to 2023, with the $9.14 billion raised in the first two months, marking a 73% drop from $33.29 billion during the same period last year. However, this year's total is higher than the $7.66 billion raised in the first two months of 2023 and the $7.48 billion in 2022.

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH terminated its second metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) alliance on March 6, ending an $870 million license agreement inked with Yuhan Corp. for dual GLP-1/FGF21 agonist, BI-3006337 (YH-25724). Yuhan said March 7 that Boehringer, of Ingelheim, Germany, returned rights to YH-25724, a dual-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 and fibroblast growth factor 21 receptor agonist, based on the counterparty’s “strategic judgement” on developing MASH therapeutics.