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.
Multiple companies are chasing Akeso Inc. and Summit Therapeutics Inc. in the battle to potentially dethrone Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck & Co. Inc.) as the top cancer immunotherapy for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer with bispecific antibodies targeting PD-(L)1 and VEGF.
“I need to be honest with you about something important. Most previous Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were caused by a virus called Ebola Zaire, for which we have vaccines and treatments. This outbreak is caused by a different virus called Ebola Bundibugyo. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for it.” This was the stark message from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) in an open letter to the people of the DRC, as he traveled to the country on Friday, May 29.
Multiple updates on TROP2-directed antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for lung and breast cancers highlight both progress made and opportunities for improvement for the targeted class of cancer therapeutics.
Multiple updates on TROP2-directed antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for lung and breast cancers highlight both progress made and opportunities for improvement for the targeted class of cancer therapeutics.
Less than two weeks after the outbreak was officially declared, animal studies of a newly designed vaccine against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus are now underway in the U.S. and U.K., and the Serum Institute of India is standing ready to manufacture the vaccine for clinical trials. If the animal tests are positive, the vaccine will be ready for clinical trials in two to three months.
Less than two weeks after the outbreak was officially declared, animal studies of a newly designed vaccine against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus are now underway in the U.S. and U.K., and the Serum Institute of India is standing ready to manufacture the vaccine for clinical trials. If the animal tests are positive, the vaccine will be ready for clinical trials in two to three months.
As generic versions of its blockbuster drug Ofev (nintedanib) start to hit the market, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH looks to have swerved the patent cliff, with European and Japanese regulators both approving a potential replacement, Jascayd (nerandomilast), this week. At its monthly meeting, the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use also recommended Novartis AG’s Vijoice (alpelisib) be given conditional approval in the treatment of PIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum disorders.
If the recent hantavirus outbreak wasn’t enough to keep public health officials busy, a new Ebola virus disease outbreak has been confirmed by authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While sequencing is ongoing to identify the Ebola species, experts have noted early results suggesting it appears to be different from the Zaire species that has caused previous outbreaks, including the deadliest outbreak in West Africa a decade ago, meaning existing vaccines and antibody treatments likely will not be effective.
